Final Blog

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog regarding pilots and mental illness. If you can remember, I discussed the 2015 crash of Germanwings Flight 4U9525, and the extremely unfortunate example of the pilot, First Officer Andreas Lubitz, of whom suffered from a mental illness, which subsequently led to his deliberate crashing of Flight 4U9525 into the French Alps, killing all 150 on board (Hammer, 2016). That entire situation could have been avoided if the necessary steps were taken to not only get FO Lubitz the appropriate help he needed, but to also properly report his mental health decline by his family doctor and psychiatrist. For this post, I would like to revisit the mental illness topic, but I would like to switch gears and present a few questions regarding military pilots to include: why is military pilot depression and mental illness far less documented or known compared to the general public? Are their screening processes less stringent? Do more of them simply lie about how they are feeling? What’s the deal?

            Throughout my enlisted military career, I used to hear things regarding Air Force pilots and it always started out a little something like this: “those guys are a breed of their own… man they look so much happier than the other officers… those guys follow the beat to their own non-Air Force related drum…” and so on.  Engaging with officers, more specifically pilots, proved to me those assumptions on their career field were in fact very correct. Many flying squadrons in the Air Force operate inside of their own bubble, have more freedom than the rest of the “normal” military, and essentially can do whatever they want as long as they conduct their missions in a safe manner (I have experienced this more times than I can count). The point is a military aviator is an amazing job! Naturally it’s even more dangerous than a regular airline pilot’s job would be, but the people in those positions love every second of it, and signed up for that exact thing.

            Maybe some cases of depression in the military go undetected or misdiagnosed, but studies show there are fewer numbers of these cases in the Air Force because those pilots genuinely love their jobs, and the benefits outweigh the negative stressors in their lives, according to numerous polls. Additionally, studies show that the general “mental make-up” of Air Force pilots are different than regular civilians and general aviation pilots. Typically, they have higher IQ’s, and are more versed physically, mentally, behaviorally, and emotionally, due to the required training prior to joining. As a result, Air Force pilots are statistically less prone to psychiatric illness, as opposed to the general population (Reichhardt, 2009). Military pilots go through the same training airline pilots do, plus SO much more, so you would think their overall general mental states would deteriorate more rapidly, but studies have shown just the opposite.

            Regardless of whether or not a person is flying for the military, flying for the airlines, flying out of your backyard, etc., typically the idea is the same with everyone: keep flying at all costs. In order to receive the medical certificate, a pilot is required to complete a physical examination with an FAA approved Aviation Medical Examiner (AME). Throughout the duration of the appointment, the AME is required to assess the pilot’s mental health to determine if they are fit and mentally competent to fly (FAA, 2016). A pilot is required to disclose his or her physical or mental conditions, but what if they don’t? Many flyers operate with the fear of losing that ability to fly, so they lie during medical screenings to prevent that from happening. If we operated under the notion of helping pilots, as opposed to threatening to ground them if they disclose suicidal thoughts or depression, maybe we would have more people coming forward for help, both military personnel and civilians. 

References:

Federal Aviation Administration (2016, June 9). Fact Sheet: Pilot Mental Fitness. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=20455

Hammer, J. (2016, February 22). The Real Story of Germanwings Flight 9525. Retrieved from     https://www.gq.com/story/germanwings-flight-9525-final-moments

Reichhardt, T. (2009, August 27). Who’s Depressed? Not Military Pilots. Retrieved from            https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/whos-depressed-not-military-pilots-115099111/