are we going to go by the assumption that the OP is telling the whole truth? Because that’s what I’ve been doing. He says he was prescribed anti depressants and anti anxiety medications.
Have you ever been to a university’s health and counseling clinic? They’ll literally prescribe you anything without even a proper diagnoses. I also requested medical records from them and it doesn’t have depression in the diagnoses. They didn’t even diagnose me with anything.
I would not bet on that. Not a dollar. You may not have seen it, you may not be able to get it, but I would bet every time that they diagnosed you before dispensing you medication. You don't generally see the diagnosis, it goes to the insurance companies and into their records in case the feds come after them.
If they prescribed you something, there was a diagnosis.
I believe he wrote that he was diagnosed with situational depression.
If you meet the medical requirements for a driver's license, hold a valid driver's license, and are able to fly safely, then the answer is yes.
Wow... sorry you went through all that! I am in now way qualified to give any kind of medical advice, but my gut is telling me that the anti depressants, anxiety meds, and especially the "suicide gesture" will make the road, if not impossible, very difficult
So... I was about to disagree with you that keeping someone with any kind of suicidal ideation or anxiety out of the cockpit is probably a good thing. When the crap hits the fan you want someone up there with a clear level head. BUT THEN, I found myself agreeing with you.. that the current FAA medical paradigm discourages you from, honestly, seeking any kind of medical advice or help. I still think there are people that probably shouldn't be flying (at least not commercial jets with hundreds of lives in their hands) but the paradigm does need to change so that people with health conditions seek and get the help they need.. after all, if you're dead you won't be flying much anyway!
The problem is bigger than that, not that I disagree with what you said in any way. Getting proper treatment for any mental illness is just about impossible. Part of that is because it's still more of an art than a science. I have someone very close to me that has extensive issues, and I've tried to assist getting them the appropriate help, and it's just difficult. So many practitioners just want to throw medications at the problem. Like the OP says, they are diagnosed with a serious mental illness in a 10 minute visit. Talk about insane. Any mental illness diagnosis requires intimate understanding of the patient. That NEVER happens in our system. Even a worst case scenario where someone acts out on suicide or substance abuse for example, the actual causes are very difficult to determine. I know someone that was diagnosed as bi-polar for 15 years and given every drug under the sun to try to treat it. A couple years ago they switched doctors (not the first time) and the new doc says "you're not bi-polar" and took them off all the meds, and put them on one simple med. The change was astounding.
Yeah for some reason mental health issues are seen as *your problem* like it's some kind of personal fault that the individual caused. Sure certain factors are at least partially self inflicted.. but many are not. OCD, anxiety, etc., many of these are a condition that the end user has no control over. I have a lot of friends who work in the mental health field and it's not as easy as "just get over it" -
Outside of the German Wings suicide flight.. do we have any data on how many accidents are caused by health issues.. and would we be able to infer from that how relatively successful (or not) our current medical process is?
Here's the thing: there are two ways of looking at data such as this. You can reasonably say, hey, we're not seeing accidents caused by mental health issues, so we don't need the regulations. Or you can say we're not seeing accidents caused by mental health issues, therefore the regulations are working. I tend toward the latter, particularly given the fact that the only way the Germanwigs pilot got a medical certificate was because of strong medical privacy protections in Germany.
The FAA's requiring pilots address certain medical conditions before being allowed to fly the general public around isn't in the best interests of anyone involved? Interesting.
Gliders as well, and that's some fun flying.
I totally agree, but I do feel that there are some major faults with the way things are done regarding FAA medical that could be improved
Oh my gosh! You received several "likes"? Well, then I stand back in awe.
Yep, yep. And to be fair they are making changes. The SSRI path is one. BasicMed is another. I'm not oblivious, I get it. But I would say we cannot expect wholesale changes overnight: they will come piecemeal; and there are some people who quite reasonably should not be allowed to fly.
