3 ms·

Current regulations: https://www.faa.gov/pilot-mental-fitness https://www.faa.gov/pilot-mental-fitness The FAA’s regulations require airline pilots to undergo

• antonjs 3y ago
  From what I understand as an observer the FAA rules make it basically impossible for a working pilot to seek mental health care (even for an acute issue like a death in the family), because the potential cost to their career is so high. Isolation and self medication at the hotel bar, here we come.
  • shadowgovt 3y ago
    Fundamentally, the issue is that the FAA's model of mental health doesn't try to help pilots in distress keep flying; it tries to identify problems and get them out of the sky. So of course pilots will react to that threat to their livelihood (and way-of-life; there's a lot of personal pride wrapped up in the profession) and avoid honesty. Honesty becomes the self-destructive strategy as long as the FAA is willing to use what is discovered in therapy to clip wings. It's a real hard corner they're painted into on this because they ultimately don't know what makes a pilot snap and decide to kill a planeload of trusting passengers.
    • ryandrake 3y ago
      The FAA's model definitely provides disincentives against getting help or a diagnosis, and this applies to mental and physical illnesses. I know that some pilots refuse to go to a physician (outside of the FAA-mandated physicals) because one diagnosis, even if it ends up being a false alarm, could ground them, potentially forever. Spend years getting a private pilot certificate, and/or decades working your way up to the airlines--who's going to risk having their family doctor one day say "hmm, that sounds weird..." when listening to your chest?
• renewiltord 3y ago
  Are these easy to cheat? I've found that most diagnoses are easy to produce by first reading the DSM-V criteria and then matching them appropriately to questions asked by doctors. In this case, however, you're trying to avoid diagnosis, which is a slightly different game and seems harder to fake. These appear to be what they're looking for https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-67/subpart-B/section-67.107 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-D... If you're getting your Adderall not from prescription, they're not going to know till you tell them, but I wonder if they try anything interesting to find you out. I know at least one person who flew but used Adderall daily for work which means that this sort of thing isn't super rigorous.
  • bensecure 3y ago
    > you're trying to avoid diagnosis, which is a slightly different game and seems harder to fake. Even easier. Just answer ever question with what's "normal". If you're shooting for a particular diagnosis, or even a diagnosis in general, you have to actually know what the symptoms are, or else the doctor will notice something odd. If you want no diagnosis, you just have to have a general idea of what most people are like.
    • renewiltord 3y ago
      Fair enough. I've had to pass immigration and customs before (like everyone) so I suppose the advice of "be cool; act normal" is something everyone already does, so it can't be too hard.
  • tpmx 3y ago
    I suppose the root cause is that psychology is still mostly a pseudo science.
  • JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > If you're getting your Adderall not from prescription, they're not going to know Airline pilots are subjected to a lot of drug tests. The upshot is that person won’t be taking the Adderall. Even if they need it.
• some_random 3y ago
  Yeah and if they say they've been feeling sad their career is over. What a fantastic system.
• deleted 3y ago
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