Pilots and Depressions

On March 24, 2015 a Germanwings(Lufthansa regional carrier) flight en route to Düsseldorf from Barcelona crashed into the French Alps. Andreas Lubitz a 28-year-old German co-pilot, for the Germanwings, intentionally crashed flight 4U9525 in the French Alps after locking Captain Patrick Sondenheimer out of the cockpit.

Andreas Lubitz mental health condition was documented.   Prior to receiving his pilot’s certification he had a long-standing history of mental illness.  During his initial training with Lufthansa Lubitz took several months off due to his mental health condition, he later underwent psychotherapy for 18 months for a severe depression episode.    At some point in time questions should have been asked about his lengthy periods of time off from work. 

In addition to the Germanwings accident, another accident that was caused by a pilots mental condition was on February 9, 1982 Japan Air Lines (JAL) flight 350 with service to Tokyo, Japan from Fukuoka, Japan.  The Flight crashed on approach at Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan.   Flight 350 was operated on a Douglas DC-8 -61 jet; Captain Seiji Katagiri’s 35-year old crashed the plane into the ocean deliberately.  Captain Katagiri engaged the two inboard engines thrust reversers while pushing the throttles to idle causing the aircraft to lose altitude quickly.  This was his attempt to commit suicide and to take the 182 people on board with him.  First Officer Yoshifumi Ishikawa and the flight engineer Yoshimi Ozaki attempted to restrain the captain Katagiri as they pleaded with him to stop.  The aircraft landed in the water short of the runway killing 24 people.  In this case Japan Air Lines knew that Captain Seiji Katagiri had suffered from a psychosomatic disorder in the 1980 but allowed him to work because he was declared fit for duty. 

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration requires that all pilots pass a medical exam every 12 calendar months if younger than 40 and every six calendar months if 40 or older to keep flying certificates current. The testing consists of a basic psychological assessment, which contains a questionnaire inquiring about any depression episodes or suicidal thoughts.  The mental health assessment is completed with the doctor’s concluding that the pilot can hold a conversation.  So if the pilot never divulges this information about their mental health and the aviation doctor never picks up on any cues then the pilot’s mental health state will go undetected.  

The current method of assessing a pilot mental health state is clearly not sufficient. There needs to be some type of change to allows for better detection of a pilots mental health state. The FAA deems withholding any information about their health a federal offence and any that is found to be withholding any information may have to pay fine of $250,000.  But this just does not seem to be a enough to deter pilot from falsifying documents.  I think that pilot should have to go through formal psychological test with a mental health/ behavioral specialist to ensure they do not have any mental health issues. I think when it come to mental health in the aviation industry there should be more done than just a questionnaire, which is clearly not a sufficient way to determine if a pilot is " fit to fly" because the pilot may not being telling the whole truth about his/ her mental medical history.  The pilot's yearly medical exam should be a two-part exam given by FAA approved MD or DO and a FAA approved mental health/ Behavioral specialist

If the FAA and air carries took the liberal approach allowed individual with known mental health conditions to work in the industry, as pilot would be crazy.  Allowing a person with some form of a mental illness to become a pilot spells out crazy. This seems like a disaster waiting to happen because does anyone really know what cause a particular mental illness, what are the triggers for that illness and does treatment really work?  None of these questions can be answered with 100% certainty.   Now what happens if the person’s trigger is stress and they are under a lot of pressure while operating an aircraft at work?  Million of people die.

Daily Briefing. (2015, March 27). It's usually pilots looking at pilots': The state of aviation's mental health evaluations.  advisory.com. Retrieved September 19, 2015.  

Holpuch, A. (2015, March 26). Pilots' mental health screening under scrutiny after Germanwings crash. theguardian.com. Retrieved September 19, 2015. 

Spector, D. (2015, March 26). Here’s a timeline of exactly what happened inside the Germanwings plane before it crashed. businessinsider.com. Retrieved September 19, 2015.

Stokes, H. (1982, February 14). Cockpit Flight Reported on Jet That Crashed in Tokyo. nytimes.com. Retrieved September 19, 2015.