3 ms·

I like what you're saying, but I'm not sure that's entirely workable regarding edge cases. If a pilot fantasizes about crashing planes and killing people, and

I like what you're saying, but I'm not sure that's entirely workable regarding edge cases. If a pilot fantasizes about crashing planes and killing people, and tells someone about this, I'm not sure I want there to be a way for them to keep their career. Sure lets treat them, get them better, but putting them back in a plane? Is it worth the risk? You put people like that back in planes, and well, eventually one got the keys that shouldn't have. I can imagine TV reporting after a suicide crash "well... we knew they used to fantasize about crashing planes full of people, but they said they were better now and we didn't want to damage their career so we put them back in the captains seat". Help them, retrain them for another job, but don't give them the keys to the plane. In real life I keep reading about an increase in "near collisions" on runways caused by low performing air traffic controllers that keep getting shuffled around instead of being fired (having their career harmed). If people with known mental issues can't get guns, why would we give them the keys to a large airplane full of people?

genmud 3y ago
First off, people with known mental issues (depression, ADHD or suicidal thoughts) actually can legally purchase / possess guns, silencers, machineguns and grenade launchers (assuming they have the proper paperwork/taxes paid). They only become a prohibited possessor when they are adjudicated mentally defective (a legal process) or have been institutionalized at a mental hospital. Secondly, issues like this aren't a 0 or 1, they are on a scale. Someone can be depressed without being suicidal and someone can be suicidal without being homicidal. Someone can have ADHD without being a danger to passengers. The FAA treats all mental issues effectively as the same thing, which results in pilots being barred from flying. Someone feeling down for a month or two after their wife dying after 30 years of marriage gets the same treatment as someone who ideates killing a plane full of passengers.

genmud 3y ago

First off, people with known mental issues (depression, ADHD or suicidal thoughts) actually can legally purchase / possess guns, silencers, machineguns and grenade launchers (assuming they have the proper paperwork/taxes paid). They only become a prohibited possessor when they are adjudicated mentally defective (a legal process) or have been institutionalized at a mental hospital. Secondly, issues like this aren't a 0 or 1, they are on a scale. Someone can be depressed without being suicidal and someone can be suicidal without being homicidal. Someone can have ADHD without being a danger to passengers. The FAA treats all mental issues effectively as the same thing, which results in pilots being barred from flying. Someone feeling down for a month or two after their wife dying after 30 years of marriage gets the same treatment as someone who ideates killing a plane full of passengers.