Pilots and Mental Illness
What happened on Germanwings flight 4U9525 was very tragic and still is a hot topic today. On March 24, 2015 flight 9525 was scheduled for a flight from Spain to Dusseldorf Germany carrying 150 passengers on board. Pilots Patrick Sodenheimer, who had over 6,000 hours in the Airbus alone and co-pilot Andreas Lubitz were at the helm and apologized to all of the passengers for the 26 minute flight delay. To make up for lost time, Captain Sodenheimer decided to cut through France on top of the Alps and as Sodenheimer was going to the bathroom, Lubitz gave him a weird answer saying that "Hopefully" and "We'll see" if they would make it to their destination. That was the last thing heard from flight 9525 until it crashed in the Alps killing everyone on board.
What brings up some red flags is Lubitz's answers to Captain Sodenhiemer's questions about making it to their destination. Apparently the answers to his questions about the airplane and the destination were cryptic and also should have been taken more seriously that they should have had someone like a flight attendant in the cockpit. Having someone else there would have alleviated this whole tragedy. But the main question is how was Lubitz's mental state? At an early stage of his life he always wanted to be a pilot painting his room with airplanes and wanting to fly for Luftansa. He was considered to be the third most orderly of his high school graduating class and was one of the top 5 percent of applicants to enter the flight program for Luftansa. It felt like he was living his dream until in November he dropped out and moved back home having suicidal thoughts and depression episodes. Lubitz was treated with psychiatric care on and off and always had a fear of failure.
Unfortunately, this isn't the only recorded accident that was based on a pilots mental illness. There are tons of pilots today that will take their issues out on an airplane more than suicide by car or other means. On January 5, 2002 a kid named Charles Bishop was earning his way to become a pilot by getting his private pilots license in Tampa, Florida when his instructor left him unattended. Bishop started up the airplane, took off, and crashed into the Bank of America building. Hearing stories like this is very heartbreaking but is a huge problem when you mix flying with the mental state of some people.
The way mental health is tested in the aviation industry isn't the way it should be. When going to apply for your medical, you answer a questionnaire about if you had any problems with drugs, alcohol, or other substance abuses more than if one has had issues with depression or other problems. To me I believe that the FAA needs to really crack down on mental status of some people that want to be pilots because yes aviation is a very fun career and even better opportunity to see the world. But with that comes a lot of testing and knowledge that some students might become discouraged when not passing a checkride or even failing a knowledge test. I really do believe that we as an industry really need to look at this problem more seriously because this will only become more problematic in the future.
In the FAA and the airline perspective, if they took the liberal approach and accepted everyone who wanted to learn and fly for the certain company they desire, more accidents like Germanwings would occur. Not only that, there would also be more issues with training and making sure that every person who is coming through the ranks at either a college or a flight school gets the proper education they need to succeed.
Refrences
What brings up some red flags is Lubitz's answers to Captain Sodenhiemer's questions about making it to their destination. Apparently the answers to his questions about the airplane and the destination were cryptic and also should have been taken more seriously that they should have had someone like a flight attendant in the cockpit. Having someone else there would have alleviated this whole tragedy. But the main question is how was Lubitz's mental state? At an early stage of his life he always wanted to be a pilot painting his room with airplanes and wanting to fly for Luftansa. He was considered to be the third most orderly of his high school graduating class and was one of the top 5 percent of applicants to enter the flight program for Luftansa. It felt like he was living his dream until in November he dropped out and moved back home having suicidal thoughts and depression episodes. Lubitz was treated with psychiatric care on and off and always had a fear of failure.
Unfortunately, this isn't the only recorded accident that was based on a pilots mental illness. There are tons of pilots today that will take their issues out on an airplane more than suicide by car or other means. On January 5, 2002 a kid named Charles Bishop was earning his way to become a pilot by getting his private pilots license in Tampa, Florida when his instructor left him unattended. Bishop started up the airplane, took off, and crashed into the Bank of America building. Hearing stories like this is very heartbreaking but is a huge problem when you mix flying with the mental state of some people.
The way mental health is tested in the aviation industry isn't the way it should be. When going to apply for your medical, you answer a questionnaire about if you had any problems with drugs, alcohol, or other substance abuses more than if one has had issues with depression or other problems. To me I believe that the FAA needs to really crack down on mental status of some people that want to be pilots because yes aviation is a very fun career and even better opportunity to see the world. But with that comes a lot of testing and knowledge that some students might become discouraged when not passing a checkride or even failing a knowledge test. I really do believe that we as an industry really need to look at this problem more seriously because this will only become more problematic in the future.
In the FAA and the airline perspective, if they took the liberal approach and accepted everyone who wanted to learn and fly for the certain company they desire, more accidents like Germanwings would occur. Not only that, there would also be more issues with training and making sure that every person who is coming through the ranks at either a college or a flight school gets the proper education they need to succeed.
Refrences
Welton, B. (2016, August 04). 10 Tragic Cases Of Suicide-By-Pilot. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from https://listverse.com/2016/08/05/10-tragic-cases-of-suicide-by-pilot/
Germanwings crash: What happened in the final 30 minutes. (2017, March 23). Retrieved January 27, 2018, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32072218
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