Webinar | Mental Health Insights and Guidelines for GA Pilots

[@breakinghues2751]

My process took the FAA 6 years. It was a complete nightmare! It’s no wonder people don’t disclose medical history to the FAA. I took a very common medication for six months, that Americans have been taking for 25 years. Unfortunately, I had to stop taking it, because the FAA denied my medical, causing me to nearly lose my job and aviation career. I had to spend thousands of dollars on an attorney to get my medical back. Now my symptoms go untreated, which,for some reason the FAA is OK with. Seems like a backwards way of doing it, you would think the FAA would want aviation professionals to be healthy.

[@abevidulich2439]

The FAA needs to find a middle ground people delay treatment because they lose the ability to work. If they saw therapy as a preventative measure to keep us healthy and safe instead of unsafe to work, it may change things for the better. There needs to be a common ground where you can get help early on the spectrum shown in this video and still be able to do our jobs. The don't really talk about 1st class medical holders in this video but it will force us out of work and into a career change. As for 61.53 if I am in therapy to maintain my mental health in a positive direction early on it should not apply.

[@jmags2586]

This is great insight. I'm a therapist and have many clients who see me 2-4 times per month to maintain their mental health by processing events before they spiral into anxiety or depression. Example: My brother is a helo pilot who had a close call a few months back. He was justifiably afraid to talk to anyone who would put his concerns on record, so I sat down with him 3 times and helped him process the event. In 3 weeks he went from having dreams about crashing and feeling anxious during his flights, to implementing a new step into his approach procedures so he can avoid danger in the future. Therapy made him a safer pilot, it's a shame we have to treat the FAA as "big brother".

[@jmags2586]

The FAA really hasn't changed much in the past 20 years. The message has always been "We want you to trust us", but their policies discourage open discourse. A quick trip through social media provides plenty of anecdotes about pilots who fly with untreated ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Many pilots I know cope with booze and cigarettes.

[@jg1503]

To me one of the best things about flying is it’s like a focus meditation. When I’m in the seat, I am preset, the only thing that comes to mind are the next 5 steps. I keep a sterile cockpit, no distractions. When I went through a divorce, I had to stop flying. I recognized mind wasn’t all there. This is ga though. For commercial pilots one of the issue is this is their livelihood. Nobody likes losing work. If there was a program in place to help financially maybe.

[@johnsmith1474]

Your flying probably caused your divorce, and your divorce ended your flying! Ironic unvirtuous circle!

[@deeanna8448]

Smart move to recognize that you weren't safe. You might have saved your life. I hope you can get back to it

[@jg1503]

@@johnsmith1474 that’s probably true!

[@jg1503]

@@deeanna8448 thanks! Although I don’t know which is more expensive divorce or flying 😂.

[@jmags2586]

Acute stress, anxiety, and depression should all fall under "self report", at least for 3rd class medicals. These things are transitory and should not result in FAA action.

[@SergeantSarge]

Definite improvement needed with the regulators and understanding MH. I’ve been a private pilot for 20 years and an ATCO for 5. Found out last year I was autistic and had ADHD. The CAA meanwhile maintains that it’s impossible for someone with ADHD to complete pilot training. Been on extended medical leave while they work out what to do, they have little precedent.

[@jmags2586]

I can't believe your 20 years of flying experience isn't enough evidence for them to recognize that your ADHD and autism are not a safety concern. We have to report EVERY diagnosis and surgery we've EVER had. This should be a 2-way street where your experience vouches for your abilities.

[@joeangiello9784]

Woah this is news to me… I have my medics today and hope to start training in the next 2 months…. I haven’t been prescribed in a number of years now by choice but definitely have ADD. Also, I know a lot of pilots and I’d say about half of them are on the spectrum lol

[@livingl6s]

I shared this on my LinkedIn as I find this useful not to just GA pilots, but to also UAS/RPIC/Part107 pilots.

[@Dave-fy4ec]

I try to be understanding of the challenges the FAA faces here but the current state of the SSRI program are really trivialized by the guest here.... Getting a special issuance is a time consuming and expensive process If you want to fly with an SSRI it requires evaluations and signoffs from multiple extra examiners and will cost at least $2,000 initially not to mention the future extra evaluations that will add significant expense to maintaining a certificate. Recent time to complete this was 15 months by a friend from start to end with about 12 months of that in the FAA queue and the administrative process would have been completely unmanageable without finding and working with an AME practice whose specialty is this type of certificate. Also a change of medication of any type whether that is dose adjustment, or discontinuance is an immediate 6 month grounding.

[@mechproject2447]

In the nature of transparency as so thoroughly talked about in this video, I'll be blunt: the system as it exists incentivizes pilots to either not disclose information, or, more likely, intentionally avoid getting the healthcare they need in order to appease the FAA. I personally have never had any mental health issues, and flying is more of a hobby for me and not a passion; however, after watching this video I feel like even I would think thrice before telling the FAA about any mental health issues I may have since there is literally nothing good that can come from it. Frankly, 20% of reported issues resulting in the pilots getting an "Initial Disqualification" while their case is taken a closer look at is unacceptable even for general aviation pilots, let alone commercial pilots who depend on their paychecks for their livelihoods. Also, having certain mental health conditions be automatically disqualifying is exactly the kind of thing the creates the situation that they wish to avoid. I know that I can safely fly an aircraft. My Instructor knows I can safely fly an aircraft. A third instructor acting as an unbiased third party knows I can safely fly an aircraft. Finally, the pilot who does my check ride knows I can safely fly an aircraft. Let's say that some doctor comes along, who potentially doesn't know anything about aviation, and says that I have a disorder that the FAA deems makes me unfit to fly. It makes no sense for that to override the knowledge and experience of multiple professional pilots who have actually flown with me and say that I can fly safely. In a similar vein, I simply cannot fathom how a bipolar person who is treated regularly and living a healthy life will almost certainly never be allowed to fly an airplane, while Trevor Jacobs can intentionally crash is plane into a mountain and only be grounded for a year. Great job FAA! Even for a governmental agency, your ability to make literally no sense is astounding.

[@jmags2586]

Great points, I'd love to see estimates of how many undiagnosed pilots are in the air every day. I have over 250 unlicensed hours from my A&P and student pilot days, was later diagnosed with ADHD, and am now afraid to go back and pursue my PPL. One rejected medical and my dreams of flying GA as a hobby are dashed. I am stuck trying to make Sport Pilot work. I have an engineering degree and later went on to get a master's in clinical mental health counseling, but the FAA sees all ADHD'ers as incapable of focusing.

[@johnsmith1474]

Another complication demonstrating just how tough flying is when you drill down to the details. When I was a kid in the 60s, the hype in magazines suggested that planes would replace cars the way cars replaced horses. This, when people commonly have difficulty with a four way stop sign intersection.

[@jmags2586]

Light Sport was version 2.0 of this. By the time it came to fruition, the category was so restricted that it made no sense to get a Sport Pilot's license over a PPL unless you have a disqualifying issue (in addition to $100k aircraft). The irony here is that an instrument rating makes us all safer pilots and this goal is unattainable unless you chose to ignore health concerns.

[@jmags2586]

AMATEUR PILOTS SHOULD NOT BE REQUIRED TO GET A 3RD CLASS MEDICALS! There are pilots flying around safely every day under Sport Pilot rules who don't need to disclose medical issues. This should be extended to private pilots who do not intend on flying professionally. If you experience acute anxiety or depression (which 99% of people do), this should fall under self-evaluation rules where you simply take time off until you feel better. You should be able to see a therapist to work through the rough patch without fear or need to tell the FAA.

[@Imhotterthenyou11]

I hate the FAA so much. I had the sads once because my dad blew his head off in the family living room. Medical denied. Spent 3 years getting it back. No other profession required this crap.

[@ferebeefamily]

Thank you for the video.

[@keithcromack2903]

The information here was excellent. How do I get Wings credit for this course.