German-wings Flight 9525 was on its way to Germany from Spain on March 24th 2015. After approaching the assigned cruise altitude, the co pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally started to descend. In ten minutes, the aircraft dropped 38,000 feet and crashed in the French Alps. Andreas Lubitz was told he was told by his doctor that he should be working, he failed to report this information to his employer. Lubitz had previously been treated for having suicide thoughts. In 2009, he took a leave from flight training due to depression. German-wings was aware of the previous mental illness. Another incident that involved a mental illness was on a Jet blue flight 191 from New York to Las Vegas. The pilot had a mental breakdown during the flight and the co pilot had to do a emergency landing. Both these situations tell us that pilot may have been aware of the illness and are not reporting the issue.
The FAA requires the pilot to pass the medical exam once a year if you are under the age of 40. The examiner needs to perform more of an extensive exam and maybe have multiple doctors opinions. Since mental illness is something that is not hard to test for.FAA and the airliners need find a way to make it easier for the pilot to admit to having a mental illness. No one wants to admit to being depressed or other mental illnesses, especially if your job is on the line. FAA and the airliners need to show the pilot that there is a positive side to reporting a mental illness. Ultimately it is the pilots responsibly to report but the FAA and airliners need to find other solution as well since the current method is showing some room for unsafe situations.
References:
(n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/28/jetblue-passengers-pilot-breakdown-osbon
We Have No Way to Screen Every Pilot for Mental Illness. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.wired.com/2015/03/no-way-screen-every-pilot-mental-illness/
Ramya,
ReplyDeleteThe part where you said nobody wants to admit to being depressed, that really sticks out in my mind. I dealt with that a lot during my time in the military. It seems to be a trend regardless of profession. I can't tell you how many times I had late-night conversations with some of my soldiers, and in the end, the majority of them would admit to me that they were depressed, or were having suicidal thoughts. They would rather admit to me than a licensed professional, due to the fact that we served together and suffered the same losses and endured the same hardships.
You bring up a good point when you say multiple doctors opinions. Maybe that is the first step to correcting this issue. As of right now people only need one person's opinion but maybe that's not enough. We trust pilots with hundreds of people's lives why not have multiple people make sure they are fit to fly. I really believe that is a valid point as it makes pilots safer and raises the trust level for the general population.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very interesting idea to have the airlines provide a positive environment to mental illness. This would surely help provide a safer industry. Also, I agree that it could elevate the public trust if the airlines show they are interested.
ReplyDeleteI thought your input on the fact that no one wants to admit to being depressed or having a mental illness was interesting. There really does need to be a culture of reporting these types of things without penalty to prevent future incidents like the Germanwing one. ASRS should be setup to address mental illness or depression as well, in my opinion.
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