UND Hosts Summit on Mental Health in Aviation

Totally unsurprising to anyone who pays any attention to how the FAA handles medical issues, but worth noting this line from the article:

  • In one major study, 56 percent of 4,300 pilots surveyed said they engaged in “unauthorized pilot aeromedical behavior.” This could mean that pilots participated in informal medical care, did not disclose issues, flew despite symptoms, or used prescriptions medications without disclosure.
 
I think after a 60 day period of all documents received, a pending medical shall be automatically approved and issued by AME.

Just like NICS works for firearms. If a background check is not completed within 10 days, approval is automatically granted.
 
It makes no sense. Mental health is strictly taboo in aviation out of fear. If a person has a major life event and does not experience anxiety or depression I would question that persons mental health long before someone who needs meds due to a death or divorce or some other catastrophic event. Just because a person has the ability to pilot an airplane does not make them immune to life’s ups and downs. How many pilots are in the air right now suffering from something that is easily treated with meds or therapy but refuse to even acknowledge they need help out of fear. Mental health medicine has come a long way over the last few years and the FAA should take notice.
 
future_western_pilot said:
Totally unsurprising to anyone who pays any attention to how the FAA handles medical issues, but worth noting this line from the article:

  • In one major study, 56 percent of 4,300 pilots surveyed said they engaged in “unauthorized pilot aeromedical behavior.” This could mean that pilots participated in informal medical care, did not disclose issues, flew despite symptoms, or used prescriptions medications without disclosure.
Click to expand...

WTF I really want to see the source material on that.

If that’s truly the case, that’s damning on a whole different level.
 
I am shocked pilots think the FAA authorizes any of their behavior. “No darling, I can’t take you home from the bar because recreational sex isn’t authorized by the FAA and I have all ready exceeded being out after midnight”
 
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This article is bullish** for one major reason, it fails to talk about the potential pitfalls of disclosing any mental health issue to the FAA and the process that the airmen, revenue or not, needs to go through in order to get their medical back. And I mean get it back, because it will surely be pulled.

Lets address the following:

1) Have a consistent timeline to getting medicals back to airmen. 90 working days is a myth.
2) Have a standard fixed cost to the airman, for seeing a psychiatrist "every six months". What the article fails to mention is that the Dr. probably has to be a HIMS and that they all charge more than $1K per session.
3) The FAA needs to be portrayed for what it is, a broken, archaic, dinosaur of an agency, that moves backwards any chance they get. This article is trying to put lipstick on a pig.

I'm done now. Thanks.
 
It'll never be fixed within the system. Any fix has to be legislative. Replace medicals with basic med, and of course remove the requirement for a medical before basic med. Then move the dui group from medical to enforcement, and permanently pull a certificate on 2nd dui. It would save a lot of grief, save a lot of money, and be more fair.
 
Albany Tom said:
It'll never be fixed within the system. Any fix has to be legislative. Replace medicals with basic med, and of course remove the requirement for a medical before basic med. Then move the dui group from medical to enforcement, and permanently pull a certificate on 2nd dui. It would save a lot of grief, save a lot of money, and be more fair.
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A DUI isn’t necessary to land you in the D/A section of the HIMS program. A hunch by your AME that you have a problem is sufficient.
 
The FAA is aware of the fact that allowing pilots to fly without medicals under the sport pilot rule has resulted in 17 years of flaming death raining from the sky.
 
Albany Tom said:
It'll never be fixed within the system. Any fix has to be legislative. Replace medicals with basic med, and of course remove the requirement for a medical before basic med. Then move the dui group from medical to enforcement, and permanently pull a certificate on 2nd dui. It would save a lot of grief, save a lot of money, and be more fair.
Click to expand...


I agree the DUI’s should be a separate issue dealt with by enforcement.
 
pilot445 said:
I think after a 60 day period of all documents received, a pending medical shall be automatically approved and issued by AME.

Just like NICS works for firearms. If a background check is not completed within 10 days, approval is automatically granted.
Click to expand...
I've had similar thoughts, but I wonder if it could lead to a practice of automatically denying applications at the 60-day mark.
 
DOT workers have as much business saying if I’m healthy enough to sit in a seat and move flight controls, as my primary doc has repaving a freeway.

Wonder what the name of this event will be
“FAAs great Don’t ask Don’t Tell all”
Or
“The bottle it up inside or lose your job event”

Based on LSA and basic med, we need to get rid of the medical and make it ALL basic med, allow the FAA ONLY deal with things that actually happed in the cockpit, and leave the rest to people who’s business is medical, or traffic courts, or etc
 
BladeSlap said:
DOT workers have as much business saying if I’m healthy enough to sit in a seat and move flight controls, as my primary doc has repaving a freeway.

Wonder what the name of this event will be
“FAAs great Don’t ask Don’t Tell all”
Or
“The bottle it up inside or lose your job event”

Based on LSA and basic med, we need to get rid of the medical and make it ALL basic med, allow the FAA ONLY deal with things that actually happed in the cockpit, and leave the rest to people who’s business is medical, or traffic courts, or etc
Click to expand...
While I share your frustration with the horror stories we hear, the FAA does employ MDs to make these decisions.
 
Palmpilot said:
While I share your frustration with the horror stories we hear, the FAA does employ MDs to make these decisions.
Click to expand...

Not acting as MDs however, and not following modern evidence based medicine.

Which basically makes their MDs for marketing purposes only.
 
I think the FAA's medical system could use a big reform, sure, and there's a million ways it could be better. However, I think that maybe the FAA's position on using drugs for mental health issues is reasonable. If you *actually* have anxiety, you could be a very dangerous pilot. If you *actually* have depression, you could be a very dangerous pilot. If you *actually* have attention deficit disorders or obsessive compulsive disorders, you could be a very dangerous pilot. If you don't actually have those issues, why the heck are you diagnosed as such and prescribed drugs for those issues? If you really think about it, it's not just the FAA that's being unreasonable here. What's not reasonable is putting energetic children on drugs so they'll sit still for hours. Hello, they're children. They aren't made to sit still that long. What's not reasonable is telling someone struggling with social isolation, here, try this drug. It might make you feel better, and we'll code it as a mental disorder so insurance will cover it. It's natural to struggle with isolation, and drugs aren't going to cut it, at least I've never seen a drug that effectively counters feelings of loneliness. What's not reasonable is putting grieving spouses or family on drugs because they're feeling down and miserable. Hello, they just lost a massive part of their life and structure. They're supposed to be upset. It's called grieving, people, and it SUCKS. I'm sorry, life does that sometimes. Same goes for bad break-ups or when life turns upside down and kicks you into a mud puddle. Life can suck, and suck big time, but it is possible to crawl back out of that without being drugged, believe it or not. Maybe it'll take forever and be super painful, but people learn a lot and grow a lot when forced to face stuff that isn't easy. And no one ever promised happiness. Even Thomas Jefferson just promised the pursuit thereof. :)

What if we stop medicating every person who says, "I'm anxious/sad/upset about XX" and only medicate the people who actually have anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders? Then all of a sudden, the FAA doesn't even qualify as draconian, because the only people on the drugs that are "no-fly" drugs and have a diagnosis that is on the "no-fly" list are actually people that would make dangerous pilots. Just my two cents.
 
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