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It all comes down to the mental health stigma. Even hinting at the slightest bit of mental distress can be enough to lose your medical certificate and end your

It all comes down to the mental health stigma. Even hinting at the slightest bit of mental distress can be enough to lose your medical certificate and end your career. It's no wonder that the pilot population would be more susceptible to the consequences of untreated mental illness.

Qem 4y ago
It's a catch-22 situation. You'd like to avoid unstable people to pilot the plane, but any atempt to filter out unstable people would lead to people hiding the condition and enduring untreated mental disease, what makes the situation worse. I don't see much to be done, beyond screening people that are entering the profession, and then ensuring the work conditions don't make people sick afterwards. When the Germanwings flight went down, I remember it was noticed the pilot was bullied at work. They should have cracked down on the bullies.
- dghlsakjg 4y ago
  The easy solution is to allow doctors to make fit-for-flight decisions instead of the FAA. If a doctor, or panel of flight doctors ok’s you to fly, then why does the FAA have final say? I don’t care if my pilot has treated depression and a doctor says they are fine(currently an administrative disqualification). I very much care if my pilot is hiding/denying their depression and not getting care because they could lose their flight status. The standard advice about getting a flight medical is to only answer what is asked and to volunteer nothing.
throwaway130124 4y ago
Absolutely. I ran into this as a new student pilot recently. Went in to get my medical thinking it would be a breeze, but my mention of going through a period of depression more than a decade ago (not diagnosed, just my layman's assessment at the time) and some more recent work-related anxiety was enough to get my medical deferred. This process will likely take me months to wade through, and this is only for a third-class medical (for a private pilot, not commercial)! I filled out the form assuming the doctor would be free to exercise discretion and that it wouldn't be an issue, but it turns out the FAA wants all these kinds of responses referred to a small team in Oklahoma City who will eventually get through the backlog and review them. It's not a very big deal for me; I just wanted to fly for fun, and can wait a few months. But for someone for whom this is a career, I can't help but imagine that there are lots of pilots out there that avoid seeking help so as not to jeopardize their career.

Qem 4y ago

It's a catch-22 situation. You'd like to avoid unstable people to pilot the plane, but any atempt to filter out unstable people would lead to people hiding the condition and enduring untreated mental disease, what makes the situation worse. I don't see much to be done, beyond screening people that are entering the profession, and then ensuring the work conditions don't make people sick afterwards. When the Germanwings flight went down, I remember it was noticed the pilot was bullied at work. They should have cracked down on the bullies.

dghlsakjg 4y ago
The easy solution is to allow doctors to make fit-for-flight decisions instead of the FAA. If a doctor, or panel of flight doctors ok’s you to fly, then why does the FAA have final say? I don’t care if my pilot has treated depression and a doctor says they are fine(currently an administrative disqualification). I very much care if my pilot is hiding/denying their depression and not getting care because they could lose their flight status. The standard advice about getting a flight medical is to only answer what is asked and to volunteer nothing.

throwaway130124 4y ago

Absolutely. I ran into this as a new student pilot recently. Went in to get my medical thinking it would be a breeze, but my mention of going through a period of depression more than a decade ago (not diagnosed, just my layman's assessment at the time) and some more recent work-related anxiety was enough to get my medical deferred. This process will likely take me months to wade through, and this is only for a third-class medical (for a private pilot, not commercial)! I filled out the form assuming the doctor would be free to exercise discretion and that it wouldn't be an issue, but it turns out the FAA wants all these kinds of responses referred to a small team in Oklahoma City who will eventually get through the backlog and review them. It's not a very big deal for me; I just wanted to fly for fun, and can wait a few months. But for someone for whom this is a career, I can't help but imagine that there are lots of pilots out there that avoid seeking help so as not to jeopardize their career.