An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot’s attempt to shut down the engines of a commercial flight to San Francisco on Sunday draws renewed attention to the mental health of airline pilots – a subject long considered taboo in the industry, but which has received more attention in recent years. since the co-pilot of a German airliner deliberately crashed in the French Alps in 2015, killing himself and 149 others.
Alaskan off-duty pilot Joseph David Emerson told federal agents He became depressed about six months ago, denied taking medication and talked about having a nervous breakdown and trying psychedelic mushrooms, according to court documents filed Monday. Emerson was arrested Monday and faces dozens of attempted murder charges. He pleaded not guilty.
Emerson’s attempt to shut down the plane’s engines was thwarted by the pilot and crew. But the incident brought back disturbing memories of the 2015 Germanwings crash and other notable cases of possible murder-suicides by commercial airline pilots: EgyptAir accident in 1999 that killed 217 people, including more than a dozen from Northern California; the 1997 SilkAir crash, which killed 104 people; and perhaps Malaysia Airlines MH370, whose disappearance in 2014 with 239 people on board never been explained.
Federal Aviation Administration requires pilots to undergo medical examinations every six months to five years, depending on their age and the type of flight they are doing, to maintain their medical certificate. The examination is carried out by an aviation medical examiner who is trained to assess the mental health of the pilot and who may order additional psychological testing if deemed necessary. Pilots must disclose their psychological problems and medications to the examiner. The FAA will revoke a pilot’s medical certificate if it becomes aware of significant mental health issues.
“The FAA encourages pilots to seek help if they are suffering from a mental health issue, as most, if treated, do not prevent a pilot from flying,” a spokesperson said of the FAA in a press release. However, certain conditions including psychosis, bipolar disorder and certain types of personality disorders automatically disqualify a pilot from obtaining their medical certificate.
Because the medical certification process relies largely on self-assessment, many mental health issues are likely underreported because pilots fear disclosing certain issues will prevent them from flying, study finds on the mental health of pilots.
Alaska Airlines did not respond to questions about when Emerson’s last medical exam was performed, or whether any issues were raised. These records are protected by aviation authorities and airlines.
“Mental health is a taboo subject among pilots,” said Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines pilot who is now CEO of Aero Consulting Experts, an aviation consulting firm. “After many, many years, we are finally dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, but not mental health.”
With drug and alcohol abuse, there are benchmarks pilots can meet to be welcomed back into a cockpit, but Aimer said mental health is often the end of a career and it there is therefore a disincentive to talk about it.
“As soon as you say something, you stop stealing and your career could be over,” he said. “People do everything to hide it.”
The reluctance of pilots to self-report mental health issues is supported by research.
“Underreporting of mental health symptoms and diagnoses is likely among airline pilots due to public stigma of mental illness and fear among pilots of being “grounded” or unfit for duty” , according to a report. 2016 study by researchers at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. The study – the first to examine pilots’ mental health outside of information derived from plane crash investigations or regulated health exams – found that about 13% of airline pilots meet criteria for depression and 4% reported having suicidal thoughts.
Commercial airline pilots are at similar, and potentially higher, risk of depression than the general population, a study suggests. 2018 review of 20 previous studies on mental health disorders among commercial airline pilots. The prevalence of depression among pilots in these studies ranged from 2% to almost 13%. Factors that affected pilots’ mental health included substance abuse, verbal or sexual abuse, and occupational stressors such as disrupted circadian rhythms and fatigue.
The Germanwings co-pilot who intentionally crashed was suffering from severe depression and may have been treated for suicidal tendencies before obtaining his pilot’s license.
More recent research indicates that many pilots avoid seeking health care because they fear it could lead to the loss of their medical certificate. A 2022 study by a team at the University of North Dakota’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences found that 56% of U.S. pilots reported avoiding health care, such as not seeking services for a new symptom. And 27% of pilots made false statements or withheld information on a written health care questionnaire out of fear of losing their certificate, according to the study of nearly 3,800 pilots.
Since the Germanwings crash, the FAA has expanded mental health training for aviation medical examiners, supported research on pilot mental health and hired more mental health professionals, the agency said .
Chronicle editor Matthias Gafni contributed to this report.
To contact Catherine Ho: cho@sfchronicle.com
