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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
by 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 agoThe 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?