Pilots and Depression

The main focus had been moved on to the co-pilot in command Andreas Lubitz after the black box footage had been recover, which can be clearly identified captain’s voice screaming at the co-pilot to open the cockpit door. This evidence show that Andreas decided to lock the captain outside of the cockpit and intentionally dip the plane into the ground and killed 149 people on board.  A psychiatric diagnosis could explain why Andreas decided to brought down the plane. The evidence shows that Andreas did not enclose his full medical to the company, which the policy of the company requires to report the condition that might affect flight safety. The German investigator did not find any death or religious related notes(NY time, 2015), however according to the German Aviation office, the medical certification that Andreas currently have allows him to fly but does not specially state that he is currently having mentally illness. However the German investigator contacted Düsseldorf University Hospital(NY time, 2015), which  states that Andrea had receiving treatments however The hospital refused to give further details due to patient’s privacy.

December 19, 1997 Silk Air flight 185 was departed from Jakarta Indonesia to Singapore. Just half an hours after the plane took off, at the altitude of 35000 feets, without any notice the plane start dipping to the group, and crashed into Musi River in Indonesia, all 104 crews and passenger was been killed. Which include a Singaporean captain Mr. Tsu and a New Zealand nationality co-pilot Duncan Word. NTSB was involve into the investigation of the accident because the aircraft involve into the accident was a U.S made Boeing 737-300, and there was 5 U.S citizen been killed in the accident. NTSB discovered the cockpit voice recorder was intentionally deactivated, which did not record any information, however during the back ground check ofthe pilot, NTSB founds out the captain Mr.Tsu was straggling a major financial crisisand a significant lose in the stock market (WSJ,1998), which they believe causes significant mentally stress to the captain. At the final report, the NTSB conclude by the captain Tsu, intentionally crash the aircraft. It was a pilot suicide case, however there are not any medical reported of captain Tsu was filed into his company.   

Prior the German wing accident, the significance of the impact of mental health issue was not fully aware by the pilot within the pilot population, until the tragedy happens, people starting focusing on the issues, some of the companies has arranged diagnoses and exams for the pilots. According to ICAO’s manual ofCivil Aviation, there is a detailed guidance related to psychiatric illness,mood personality and behavior disorders, stress, sleep.(Aviation week, 2015) I would recommend companies and individuals to review the guideline. Also, the current system might focused on self-reporting system, which recommend the pilot to file their own medical condition, due to the privacy issue, the FAA mighthave limited access to a pilot’s personal medical record ( Aviation Week, 2015) . I believe in this case safety could overtake privacy, FAA should be given rights to access to personal mental health record to ensure the safety of the industry.

According to the FAA’s website for the first class Airlines Transport pilots, nodiagnosis of psychosis or bipolar disorder or severe personality disorders areallowed(FAA, 2006), any of these will result in revoke of medication certification. Which mean the pilot might not be allow to fly if any of those diagnosis showed up on their medical record. This is the significant reasons that stop pilot from reporting their medical condition. As I mentioned, for FAA the biggest challenge is debating between safety and privacy, if it is appropriate to access personal health record to unsure safety. And it is very difficult FAA set up a clear standard which kind of mental illness will affect the safety of aviation, , not only FAA but also the medical and science filed are finding it hard to evaluate some of the diagnosis. FAA should also publish some guild line if a pilot been discovered with a mental health issue, what process whey should have gone through to earn their medication certification back.

For the Airline company perspective, they should support their employees to not to hide their mental health condition. Most of the pilots are worried about they will be banned from flying and affect their certification. In this case, the company might able to come out with some alternate arrangement for the pilot, for example, they can be simulator instructor. So that it would keep them away from their jobs. Also the airline company should educate the pilot of what are the impact and safety issue of the mental illness, which can help them to rise their awareness, the airlines company should also have plan to support their treatment. Also the airlines should review the IATA medical guide line during their pilots training program. 

Reference 

 Eddy, M., Bilefsky, D., & Clark, N. (2015). Co-Pilot in Germanwings Crash Hid Mental Illness From Employer, Authorities Say. Retrieved January 22, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/world/europe/germanwings-crash-andreas-lubitz.html?_r=0 

 Editorial: Keep An Open Mind On Pilots' Mental Health. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2016, from http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/editorial-keep-open-mind-pilots-mental-health

 Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners. (2006, April 3). Retrieved January 22, 2016, from https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/ame/guide/standards/ 

 

 How do airlines screen pilots for mental health issues? (2015). Retrieved January 22, 2016, from http://fortune.com/2015/03/26/pilots-mental-health-screening/

 Was the SilkAir Crash an Accident Or Simply the Pilot's Death Wish? (1998, March 10). Retrieved January 25, 2016, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB889465443924232500