Pilot Mental Illness

1. The Germanwings flight was to go from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany with 150 people on board. The aircraft, an Airbus A320, was cruising at 38,000 feet. Approximately 30 minutes into the flight the captain had left the cockpit and the selected altitude was then changed from 38,000 feet to 100 feet by the first officer, who dove the aircraft into the Earth 11 minutes later (What happened in, 2017). First Officer Andrea Lubitz did have a history of mental illness and when prosecutors went to his home post-accident, there "were several doctors’ notes stating that he was too ill to work, including on the day of the crash; one of the notes had been torn up" (Eddy, Bilefsky, & Clark, 2015). It doesn't appear that he had any particular issues prior to the accident, other than several medical evaluations and hospital visits.


2. Another incident where the pilot's mental condition was a factor was the SilkAir Flight 185 accident. A Boeing 737 aircraft was scheduled from Jakarta, Indonesia to Singapore with a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. This time, the captain crashed the aircraft. The incident is still debated by the Indonesian government, but the NTSB had utilized computer modeling to successfully conclude that the final flight path of the aircraft could've only occurred due to an intentional act. A rudder hardover event, such as was declared by the superior court in Los Angeles, was conclusively not to blame per the computer modeling, which has caused some controversy (Leowitwiki, & IWEMcCulloch, 2010). In addition, it was concluded that the captain had disabled the CVR and FDR upon leaving and re-entering the cockpit. While captain Tsu did not have a past of mental illness, the contributing factors to his mental state on the flight include "recent financial losses of $1.2 million", his "obtaining (of) a $600,000 life insurance policy the previous week which was to have gone into effect on the day of the accident,...several recent disciplinary actions on the part of the airline, and the loss of four squadron mates during his military flight training, 18 years earlier on the exact date of the crash."


3. The mental health of pilots currently cannot be screened for. The privacy laws prevent the companies from gaining access to their pilots mental records. Instead, the companies rely on self-reporting by the pilots, which as can be seen in the accidents above, could've prevented many deaths had the pilots actually self-reported. The problem with this standard is that pilots do not want to lose their job or face scrutiny so where's the incentive to self-report? They cannot do good for themselves by self-reporting. I do believe there is a need for reform, including a psych screening at the yearly medical and/or mandatory reporting of (only) mental health issues to employers, where the employees can cause mass casualties in the performing of their duties.


4. From the FAA and airline perspective, a more liberal approach in regards to mental illness acceptability and treatment would cause some challenges. First, they have to create a program for pilots to follow after they've been identified to have a mental illness. Next, they have to identify what cases may or may not involve suspension and/or termination. Lastly, they would have to have a system to gain access to the mental health history of the pilots. Otherwise, they're relying on self-reporting again, which usually fails.

References

Eddy, M., Bilefsky, D., & Clark, N. (2015, March 27). Co-Pilot in Germanwings Crash Hid Mental Illness From Employer, Authorities Say. Retrieved January 25, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/world/europe/germanwings-crash-andreas-lubitz.html

Germanwings crash: What happened in the final 30 minutes. (2017, March 23). Retrieved January 25, 2018, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32072218

Leowitwiki, & IWEMcCulloch. (2010, October 4). SilkAir Flight 185: Controversial Crash. Retrieved January 25, 2018, from http://aviationknowledge.wikidot.com/asi:silkair-flight-185:pilot-suicide#toc1

SilkAir Flight 185. (2018, January 25). Retrieved January 25, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SilkAir_Flight_185