The pilot mental health apocalypse continues:
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I got out of flying when I got sick in 2020. From the outside of aviation looking in, many toxic things are utterly apparent to me now that I just always accepted as normal while I flew for a living. The relationship with our employers was downright abusive during the lost decade; I'm surprised we're not seeing more of this stuff to be honest. Now, finally, things are turning around pay and hiring-wise, but it's like "Oh, I spent my whole 20s being told that I wasn't good enough for X, that I just needed more Y (turbine PIC, crew time, 121 experience, etc) and now guys are getting hired into the left seat at Legacy Airlines." (see the other thread)
That alone is enough to trigger a mental crisis among the guys and gals getting passed over! "OMG, it was all a lie, and they didn't give a crap about anything but 'meat in the seat' and money." It's hard to learn that. It's incredibly hard to learn that your employer
really doesn't care if you live or die - as long as your death is not too expensive. Your coworkers might, but the company doesn't care - they'll move on without you.
That's not even to mention <checks notes>, uhh, the economy, COVID and the fallout of COVID, social-media fueled industrial narcissism, a growing sensation that we're in WWIII, the climate crisis, political polarization, AI and automation, and even things like changing societal values. God forbid a guy is having trouble at home, a hard time fitting in at work, or something. It's a lot.
Oh, and by the way, flying is still stressful! The job is hard on your body, you don't get to sleep normally, you have long hours, and you spend those hours living at a higher elevation than Denver, CO. You spend your day interfacing with general public Karens who don't understand what you do (even if you fly freight often) and the food you eat is often terrible. But you're not allowed to be weak - not even in the slightest. The same society that will throw a tantrum in 32B because they have to follow flight crew instructions and wear a mask during a pandemic expects us to be Steely-Eyed Missile Men (tm) at all times (even on 4 hours of sleep) and to be at peak mental and physical health at all times. Up to age 65 (or 67, who's counting? Why don't we have a second lost decade?!).
But in general we're not, "always on our game," or at least I wasn't, and when I had too much time to think about things that weren't going well, or was "sad" (good lord never say depressed), I did what the rest of us did, sometimes I "washed it down with brown." That's the culture; that's what's expected of us, so we do it. Nothing cures contemplating your dead coworkers like getting drunk with your surviving coworkers, right? Just don't ever get a therapist, a counselor (even a marriage counselor under certain circumstances) - or you run the risk of losing your employment. That's a powerful disincentive to "do the right thing."
It could be that the guy pulling the fire handles was the sanest guy up front lol; he finally woke up and realized, "my god, just get this thing on the ground so I can go home and be with my family!"
