Oh FAA

Glad I’m not the only one who thought there was a metric ton of weasel-phrasing in that video. E.g., “career ending” vs “we ground your ass,” or “we continue to look for other ways.”

I almost don’t think pilats were the intended audience for this video, but rather the general public who might wonder how the FAA is “on top of” the recent high-profile incidents of pilot breakdowns.

To that group I say: the FAA aeromedical branch has a long reputation of being extremely skeptical about several kinds health diagnoses, requiring people to spend thousands of dollars and months on tests and documentation before what seems like a bureaucrat issues their judgement. While differing only lately, the FAA’s reputation on mental health diagnoses related to depression, PTSD, or just adults who were given Ritalin as kids might as well be a policy stuck back in 1950. The result is pilots not disclosing and not addressing their illness for fear of the FAA’s heavy hand.

The only way pilots will stop concealing illness and begin openly seeking the best treatment possible is when the FAA’s reputation changes to one where people no longer think of Dr. Susan Northrup’s office there as enforcers whose job is to revoke certificates, but maybe has some minimum expectations about treatment in a plan that overwhelmingly results in continuing to be airworthy. That is also a reputation, and will have to reverse the momentum of their current one.

p.s. an internet video with carefully-crafted phrases that cipher-out to “no change in course” from someone thowing the Merkel-Raute hands doesn’t move the needle.
 
Pilot Fighter said:
I’m seeking treatment for depression for the first time. I’ve never used prescription or non-prescription drugs to self-medicate. I’ve never had any episodes of suicidal ideation. Flying brings me great joy and I never suffer from depression symptoms 24 hours prior to flying or until I leave airport property.
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I find it amazing among other things that that worksheet has things in it not even required for an initial issuance of a medical certificate (specifically a cog screen), so how are they even going to have a baseline for you? Oh right it doesn’t matter, it’s all a big phony to assure the general public the situation is being handled.
 
FAA aeromedical can’t even standardize •. Take NyQuil for example. In the Eastern Region, it’s a no controlling for 72 hours after taking. In the Southern Region, it’s 48 hours.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
I find it amazing among other things that that worksheet has things in it not even required for an initial issuance of a medical certificate (specifically a cog screen), so how are they even going to have a baseline for you? Oh right it doesn’t matter, it’s all a big phony to assure the general public the situation is being handled.
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Baseline, they are requesting a list of all your previous providers and their notes. Many providers are quite inaccurate in their early assessments before spending more time with their clients. Premature Dual diagnoses are most common. The providers, working in good faith, have inadvertently doomed current pilots.

The big deal breaker is suicidal ideation. If you suffer from depression there’s a 99% chance you’ve had suicidal ideation. The FAA is only willing to accept pilots with depression if they are willing to lie.
 
In the end I think all the FAA cares about is lowering their liability.

As a result we have a system where relatively normal healthy pilots feel like they can’t go to therapy or seek medical treatment for health problems.

And for those that do have serious clinical mental health issues, the system puts them in a corner, which I could assume just makes it even worse and more dangerous.
 
podrick said:
In the end I think all the FAA cares about is lowering their liability.

As a result we have a system where relatively normal healthy pilots feel like they can’t go to therapy or seek medical treatment for health problems.

And for those that do have serious clinical mental health issues, the system puts them in a corner, which I could assume just makes it even worse and more dangerous.
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Every government agency is principally concerned with minimizing risk ... by design.

I'll use an example related to airport management where plane spotters are angry they can't take photos around the airfield using basic game theory.

Scenario One: - Plane spotters are allowed to take photos and no problems are encountered (Low risk; No reward)
Scenario Two: - Plane spotters are not allowed to take photos (No risk, No reward)
Scenario Three: Plane spotters are allowed to take photos and a security incident occurs (High risk, No reward)
Scenario Four: Plane spotters are not allowed to take photos and a security incident occurs (No risk, No reward)

If you consider what the ultimate goal of the airport is here (to protect the job and reputation of its leadership team), Scenario Two is optimal. Plane spotters are too small of a group for the airport to face any backlash, and there's no measurable reward to letting them take photos around the airfield (other than not hearing them complain). While allowing plane spotting has a 99.9% probability of resulting in Scenario One, there would need to be some reward to justify assuming the 0.1% risk - which there's not. Scenario Three has the worst outcome, as not only does a security event occur, but the airport's leadership is responsible for it.

There's not cost to FAA leadership by continuing their current aeromedical policy. Loosening that policy introduces risk to their leadership, without corresponding reward to the organization.
 
podrick said:
Got a source for that?

Archaic, dumb stigmas like that are reasons why we’ll probably never see any progress with the FAA.

Let’s drop the stigma and stop spreading misinformation.
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Most of the studies indicate 50-70% of those with a diagnosis have experienced suicidal ideation. Most mental health professionals laugh at those numbers.

Find one person with clinical depression that hasn’t had SI and I’ll eat a bug.

Unless the FAA is ready to deal with suicidal ideation they aren’t ready to deal with depression.

The stigma is that history of suicidal ideation suggests a risk to passengers and crew.
 
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