Is pilot mental health a real thing?
Pilots mental health is often very underestimated.
In fact, suicides committed my pilots are more frequent than what we would think.
On March 24th 2015, Andreas Lubitz, decided to put an end to his
life by dramatically crashing, on purpose, the airplane that he was flying and bringing
with him all the 149 innocent souls that were onboard the aircraft. Germanwings
flight number 9525, for which Lubitz was the first officer, was a passenger international
flight between Barcelona (Spain) and Dusseldorf (Germany). The flight that day
left from Barcelona with 20 minutes of delay. The cockpit voice records showed
that for the first twenty
minutes of the flight, there was normal verbal exchanges between the Captain
Patrick Sonderheiner and the co-pilot Lubitz (Armstrong & Murphy, 2015). The
captain, in those 20 minutes told Lubitz that he had no time to go to the
toilet in Barcelona. The flight regularly
climbed to 38000 feet and followed, with minimal variations, the standard route
to Dusseldorf (Armstrong & Murphy, 2015). The captain after having told to Lubitz to prepare for
the landing decided to go to the lavatory. At 10.30 Lubitz changed the autopilot altitude from 38000ft to 96ft, and
at 10.31 the plane began a steady
descent (Armstrong &
Murphy, 2015). Lubitz, knowing
that the aircraft safety system would had kicked in if there was an abrupted
pitching down motion, decided to set the autopilot to a gradual descend but
with a much higher speed than normal. At 10.32 the French air traffic controllers tried, in vain, to contact
the aircraft (Armstrong & Murphy, 2015). A few minutes later, a strong
knocking is heard at the cockpit door with the captain outside saying:
"For the love of God, open the door" (Armstrong & Murphy, 2015).
It is here that we realize how Lubitz locked outside of the cockpit the
Captain. In the background, the screams of the passengers can be heard. The
captain also tried to force the door with a metal object. The voice recorder
registers the breathing of the pilot, silent in the cabin, which tells that
Lubitz was alive and conscious. At about 10.40, one of the wings hit a mountain
(Armstrong & Murphy, 2015). The last sounds recorded are the screams of the
passengers, and immediately after the Airbus crashed on the French Alps. There
is not escape route for the passengers of the Germanwings flight 9525, which they
all tragically die on the impact after 5 minutes of pure terror.
After the crash, investigators discovered a large
quantity of antidepressants in Lubitz apartment, because he suffered from serious
psychosomatic illness. Lufthansa itself knew about the psychic
disorders of Andreas. It was the same German company that admitted it, saying
that it was informed in 2009 of the "serious depressive episode" that
the 27 year old had gone through (Tomlinson
& Baker, 2015). In
2009, before resuming training after several months of interruption, Lubitz wrote
to the Lufthansa flight school informing them of "a serious depressive
episode" that he experienced (Tomlinson & Baker, 2015). After the interruption, Lufthansa specified that Lubitz was approved for
the medical certification and that he could had resumed flying. A few weeks
prior to the crash, Lubitz, had an eye examination at the university clinic of Dusseldorf,
in Germany, in which he discovered that he had a vision problem that would
eventually led to the revocation of his medical fitness (Tomlinson & Baker, 2015). As reconstructed by the German investigators on the basis
of the medical records found at Lubitz house, the doctors had prescribed him two
weeks of leave, probably motivated by his bipolar disorder. It seems that he
was afflicted by manic-depressive psychosis and that in the past he undergone treatments
for his suicidal tendencies (Tomlinson
& Baker, 2015).
Lubitz suiciding action during the Germanwings flight
9525 it was not the first case documented in the history of commercial
aviation. In August 1994, the Royal Air Maroc ATR-42, with 44 people on board crashed
near Agadir (When the pilot could not be trusted, 1999). The plane was inbound
for Casablanca. The cockpit voice recorder revealed that it was the captain,
Younis Khayati, who caused the crash despite the desperate attempts of the
co-pilot, Sofia Figuiqui, who after having launched the "mayday"
three times tried in vain to block the captain suiciding action (When the pilot
could not be trusted, 1999).
In order to be able to fly a person needs to have a
medical certificate. The fitness of receiving or not the certificate is determinate
by an approved physician: the Aviation Medical Examiner (AME). The applicant after filling in an FAA medical
application is required to have an examination with the AME. When it comes in checking
the physical state of a pilot, there are no discounts. From the
electroencephalograph to blood and urine tests. But when it comes to the mental
health of the pilot there are no mandatory psychological tests, except if particular
problems arise. In fact, the psychological part of the test is self-disclosure
and it consist in a couple of questions contained in the medical application.
It is up to the AME to further investigate on the pilot psychological conditions.
Based on the answers that the AME receives from the pilot, he or she can decide
to pass the case to the FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine if there any doubts
arise on the mental conditions of the pilot (Fact Sheet – Pilot Mental Fitness,
2016). There are certain conditions that however automatically disqualify a
pilot from receiving a medical certificate such as: psychosis, bipolar disorder
and sever personality disorder (Fact Sheet – Pilot Mental Fitness, 2016). The
current method of evaluating the mental health of pilots, specifically within
the USA, in my opinion has to be revised. One action that the aviation industry
should take in approaching this problem is to make sure that all pilots have
access to support programs. Another action is to impose to each airlines to
perform a psychological assessment of the pilots before they start their jobs
with them and to execute random sample test on the pilots to analyze their mental
health at that point in time.
From the FAA and the airlines point of view a more
liberal approach to mental illness would result in more money to spend on
pilots and it would be time consuming. For example if a pilot needs to get any mental
health treatment he will still need to get a minimum pay also if he is not
currently working.
Refernces:
Armstrong, J.,
& Murphy, V. (2015, March 29). Terrified Germanwings passengers screamed
for
more than 5 mins as plane crashed. Retrieved from https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-
news/terrified-germanwings-passengers-screamed-more-5424516
Fact Sheet – Pilot
Mental Fitness. (2016, June 9). Retrieved from
https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=20455
Tomlinson, S.,
& Baker, K. (2015, March 31). Pictured as a smiling schoolboy, killer
co-pilot
Andreas Lubitz - whose bosses knew suffered a 'serious
depressive episode' SIX YEARS
before French Alps disaster. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-
3019802/Girlfriend-Germanwings-crash-pilot-says-knew-psychological-issues-optimistic-
okay.html
When the pilot
could not be trusted. (1999, November 14). Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/nov/15/1
Great post! When Lufthansa found out about his psychosomatic illness in 2009, they should have taken the appropriate measures in helping him get treated and terminate his medical certificate. Although most people who are depressed do not kill themselves or others in this case, untreated depression can increase the risk of possible suicide. Severely depressed people often do not have the energy to harm themselves, but it is when their depression lifts and they gain increased energy that they may be more likely to attempt suicide. These symptoms typically respond to proper treatment, and usually can be avoided with early intervention for depressive illness. Lubitz has had this mental illness condition simmering for 6 years, for none of the doctors to come forward, perhaps this was due to the patient privacy act and they didn’t want to jeopardize losing their medical license. However, when you have someone who has control over many lives, their privacy rights should be voided and the doctors knowing that, should be able to come forward would out being charged for divulging information that would protect others.
ReplyDeleteI found some similar information while researching this assignment. I think that there should ave been more investigation into the matter. I think that pilots should admit when they think they are having mental issues. I realize that there may be some negative consequences to this action, but at the end of the day it is the morally responsible thing for the pilot to do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you if the FAA and the airlines took a more liberal approach to mental illness it would result in more money to spend on pilots and it would be time consuming. Also I think the pilot shortage would continue to grow.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Nenne747,
ReplyDeleteThorough summary of a deeply chilling and horrid tragedy. It never reads any less disturbing, no matter the presentation. The commonality of pilot murder-suicide is a curious consideration though. My impression was that pilot murder-suicide was in-fact quite the opposite, rather statistically uncommon, if not even, definitively rare. Yet, there seem to have been more than a few occasions of such in history – which is incredibly disturbing and ultimately unsettling.
Leading to questions:
Why have these people enacted destruction by their singular choice upon so many innocent others? The inner workings of such psychopathic minds may never be known.
A better question may be:
How might precursory psychopathic signals be best identified in advance of impending enactment at large? Society may never know.
Perhaps though the system by which the aviation industry is using to validate pilot mental fitness is in need of its own scrutiny. Relatively recent studies point toward deficiencies of the systems in place which are tasked to validate pilot mental health.
Is it possible that more pilots are afflicted by mental illness than are truly acceptable for the flying public’s assurance of safety? Absolutely.
It is possible that societal stigma and considerable negative consequences of livelihood prevent pilots from seeking appropriately needed medical treatment due to the current regulatory climate of their industry? Absolutely.
It is possible that these specific tragedies will repeat similarly once again in the future? Absolutely.
Is this acceptable? Absolutely not.
There are strong convictions that the framework of the aeromedical system itself may be of considerable probable cause. To be clear, mentally ill pilots are the final cause of such tragedies. Yet from a systems perspective; what systemic deficits allow such risks to persist unchecked?
Tough questions always seem to cool down as the tragedies of topic pass farther into history and out from the center stage.
How many pilots are secretly living as mental illness time-bombs, unable to seek effective manageable treatment, due to fear of statistically probable career ending consequence?
Hard questions. Of which should be continually propositioned, lest terrible repetition occurs.
What do you think?
- Aviator in Progress
i agree that if the airlines and the FAA was more liberal that it would be time consuming. No one wants to sit on the sidelines not getting paid for flying or even getting paid at all. I don't think it'll be costly for the FAA because it will have to go through the airlines insurance companies. That saying that the pilot has the airlines health insurance coverage or if mental health is even covered. The whole system is broken top to bottom.
ReplyDeleteNenne747,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the current screening for mental illnesses in the USA is flawed and needs serious revision. The fact that we have seen such a massive suicide-homicide like Germanwings so late into the 21st century, and there has been no major revisions of even the medical certificate application, is quite scary. I also agree that a great start to dealing with minor depression and other smaller mental health issues is to make support groups accessible to the people that need them. There has been a movement towards correcting this lack of established help and guidance in the mental health of pilots via an Aviation Rule Making Committee. They have established several recommendations for the FAA ranging from enhancing training for AMEs to "establishing uniform national mandatory reporting for medical issues that affect public safety" (Fraser, 2016). The latter of the two recommendations I cited would not only effect the aviation industry, but all public safety influenced careers from police to bus drivers. Hopefully that becomes a reality and makes all travel safer.
Fraser, J. R. (2016, January). Pilot Fitness Aviation Rulemaking Committee Recommendations
[PDF]. Retrived from https://www.nbaa.org/admin/personnel/medical/201601_editorial.pdf
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-
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.2.67_1107