The nation's airline industry has a pilot problem, reports Helen Ouyang in the New York Times Magazine. It's a bit of a Catch-22 in regard to mental health: Pilots in need of help for depression or a similar ailment know that if they seek treatment, they might never be allowed to fly again. Meaning, the very rules meant to keep air travel safe might be having the reverse effect by giving pilots an incentive to hide their problems. "Every pilot I interviewed for this article knew of colleagues who had hidden their medical issues from the F.A.A.," writes Ouyang. Some "admitted to doing so themselves—several of whom told me that their supervisors had urged them not to report a health problem." The piece includes several first-person examples.
A tragedy from 2015 continues to cast a large shadow over the debate: a Germanwings pilot (who had been trained in the US) deliberately flew his plane into a mountain in the French Alps and caused 150 deaths. The incident continues to affect policy, notes Ouyang. Strict rules keep pilots out of the cockpit after the diagnosis of a mental illness or the prescription of certain medications. The story takes an in-depth look at attempts to find solutions, including the introduction of the Mental Health in Aviation Act in Congress last year, which would ease some of the restrictions.
One potential area for improvement are "technology-based screenings—possibly using biowearables that track heart-rate variability and subtle skin changes, for example—to assess pilots' mental states before flights," writes Ouyang. The piece includes an interview with a US pilot accused of trying to turn off the engines of an Alaska Airlines jet midflight: He and his wife have since started a nonprofit aimed at improving pilots' health. (Read Ouyang's full story here. (More airline pilots stories.)
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