Psychological Arsenal

            Some could argue to fly safely means to do so both sanely and efficiently. Some may also call the current FAA requirements and psychological screenings sufficient, in looking for said sanity and efficiency. My question to you is this: will there ever truly be a catch-all means to identifying mental incompetence in regards to pilots or flightcrew? If I have a bad day, week, or year, am I at risk for driving my car into a church on a Sunday morning? Every single person on this planet has experienced mental or physical discomfort in some way, but where do we draw the line from justified reactions to mass murder? A person diagnosed (or undiagnosed) with mental illness can find a way to justify every action he or she carries out. The magnitude to which mental illnesses manifest in our brains is so vastly explored, identified, and simultaneously unknown … and yet screening for it can be rendered practically useless. Requiring an employer to obtain ...

Q: Do you believe the pilot shortage is real and based upon projected retirements and the current number of new pilots entering the industry? Also, do you believe that the "pay increases" will solve the pilot shortage problem?  A: I believe that the pilot shortage is a real and carefully thought-out and calculated issue effecting future air carriers. I also feel as though another primary deterrent from fixing the pilot shortage comes in the form of an abysmal paycheck. Aside from retirements, employment retention is a damaging factor at the regional level. With salaries typically beginning at $20,000 a year, and working conditions being less than ideal at times, life at the regionals is beginning to sound less and less appealing to aspiring pilots (Smith, 2017).             It is exactly that reason that paves the obvious solution path of the pilot shortage: increase yearly salaries and pilots will be more likely to ap...

When I was eleven years old I made the mental decision to join the United States Air Force after witnessing the events that took place on September 11 th , 2001. When the time came to actually ship out following my eighteenth birthday, I left my hometown of Belleville, Michigan, kissed my family goodbye, and I hit the ground running into societal chaos to find out more about this unscripted, unfair, and yet ever-so-intriguing phenomena we call life . In the military I served as a police officer, both overseas and stateside, for six years. Throughout that time, I spent many nights on numerous installations guarding and preventing unauthorized access to aircraft to include Air Force One, B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, Boeing E-3 Sentry, KC-10, KC-135, C-17, C-130, fighter jets such as the F-15, F-16, and the F-22 Raptor, in addition to overseeing security on reaper and predator drones… to name a few.            I have been absolutely enamored by airplanes sin...