Like, I'm definitely being an • with this conversation, but daphuq???
Step one is self awareness.
Step two is not being an •.
Step 1.5 might be putting down the Mountain Dew.
Anyway.
I think I can say, with a straight face, that he absolutely had an obligation to self-ground at some point, that I do not condone his actions whatsoever and that he should be held responsible for them. I believe the system WILL hold him to account. And I don’t think we need to pile on, or we certainly don’t need you to pile on in your normal style: trouble in two courthouses and being held without bail (yes, last I looked) is enough.
I can also say, with a straight face, that the system is simply not set up to provide an anywhere nearly close to reasonable (or realistically achievable, even) process for return to flight for mental health issues and that it is directly responsible for this getting to this point. Or even just health issues period—a friend of mine has been mired in the process for years, and despite being in tip-top physical condition, literally running marathons, and beating lung cancer (as opposed to one Whopper away from a massive MI, which is what many domestic Captains look like as they wheeze between 737s) they had him sit out for a long while.
I can also say with a straight face that the Multnomah County DA, or whomever it is, is doing the state thing of throwing big charges around, while the Feds are much more sober and clearheaded about the matter.
Despite how it’s occasionally practiced in aviation, just culture does not and has never implied a lack of direct individual accountability, and both the Federal Government and the State of Oregon are going to rigorously check that box here. It
does mean, however, that when something happens, the entire system has to do a little introspection or self-examination. He’s responsible, and accountable, for what he did. He got there
because the aeromedical system is fundamentally broken and I think that’s what many of us are hitting around (or directly upon) here.