Truman Sparks
4th Jul 2012, 12:00
I read today with interest that the Jet Blue Captain that 'lost it' on a flight, had to be restrained and caused the aircraft to divert, has been found insane and therefore his criminal case is to be re-assessed.
BBC News - 'Insanity' clears JetBlue 'bomb' pilot Clayton Osbon (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18700124)
As an airline pilot I welcome this news and have every sympathy with Capt Osbon.
I think that it's all too easy to dismiss this individual as an isolated case, someone who obviously had previous mental health issues and somehow slipped through the safety nets of medicals and interviews.
I think there is a danger that, because this is a 'difficult' or awkward subject we dismiss it in the pilot community and indeed the AME community and move on.
I note with interest that upon my last two medical renewals I have questioned about my personal levels of stress and I have replied as honestly as I can that they are probably no more or less than anyone elses who does what I do and is the at my time of life.
We have the simulator every six months, we are challenged on a daily basis and hassled by security and our employers demand an almost super human level of flawless performance from us every time we operate. Throw in your every day smattering of every day outside influences such as death, divorce, moving house or even just the commute into work and I am surprised that we do not have more 'melt downs' within our demographic.
We tend to be stable extroverts as a group and therefore inclined to get things off our chest which helps. Every single guy or girl I fly with has a moan about something or other and I welcome it. I think it's important. Nobody else understands in quite the same way as we do.
And we have to have broad shoulders and take it and take it, from our families, from passengers and from our employers.
The buck stops with us and we have nowhere to go, the only thing we can do is vent to the others and manage and cope with it as best we can. I would tend to suggest that Capt Osbon has had more in his life than he was able to cope with, and further, I would tend to suggest that opportunities to off load and talk about how he was feeling were not available to him or he felt that they were not available to him.
Two pilots who I knew at a previous employer have just been fired after having a CRM breakdown during a flight. They rowed and reported each other and were fired at the subsequent tribunal for basically not being able to sort it out and endangering the flight by their behaviour.
One of the guys had been through a bitter divorce and the other has a history of anger management issues.
It's seems to me that neither men felt they had the tools to deal with their problems and that their employer also did not provide them with those tools. There is obviously an element of personal responsibility in this case.
But the point of my words above here is that more cases such as Capt Osbon will, I fear, occur in the future. And I hope that when they do criminal prosecutions are avoided.
But I would also ask any medical professionals reading this to consider how we might be best counselled as a demographic to avoid this happening in the first place.
We may all be steely eyed missile men, able to take the world upon our shoulders but we are also human too.
BBC News - 'Insanity' clears JetBlue 'bomb' pilot Clayton Osbon (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18700124)
As an airline pilot I welcome this news and have every sympathy with Capt Osbon.
I think that it's all too easy to dismiss this individual as an isolated case, someone who obviously had previous mental health issues and somehow slipped through the safety nets of medicals and interviews.
I think there is a danger that, because this is a 'difficult' or awkward subject we dismiss it in the pilot community and indeed the AME community and move on.
I note with interest that upon my last two medical renewals I have questioned about my personal levels of stress and I have replied as honestly as I can that they are probably no more or less than anyone elses who does what I do and is the at my time of life.
We have the simulator every six months, we are challenged on a daily basis and hassled by security and our employers demand an almost super human level of flawless performance from us every time we operate. Throw in your every day smattering of every day outside influences such as death, divorce, moving house or even just the commute into work and I am surprised that we do not have more 'melt downs' within our demographic.
We tend to be stable extroverts as a group and therefore inclined to get things off our chest which helps. Every single guy or girl I fly with has a moan about something or other and I welcome it. I think it's important. Nobody else understands in quite the same way as we do.
And we have to have broad shoulders and take it and take it, from our families, from passengers and from our employers.
The buck stops with us and we have nowhere to go, the only thing we can do is vent to the others and manage and cope with it as best we can. I would tend to suggest that Capt Osbon has had more in his life than he was able to cope with, and further, I would tend to suggest that opportunities to off load and talk about how he was feeling were not available to him or he felt that they were not available to him.
Two pilots who I knew at a previous employer have just been fired after having a CRM breakdown during a flight. They rowed and reported each other and were fired at the subsequent tribunal for basically not being able to sort it out and endangering the flight by their behaviour.
One of the guys had been through a bitter divorce and the other has a history of anger management issues.
It's seems to me that neither men felt they had the tools to deal with their problems and that their employer also did not provide them with those tools. There is obviously an element of personal responsibility in this case.
But the point of my words above here is that more cases such as Capt Osbon will, I fear, occur in the future. And I hope that when they do criminal prosecutions are avoided.
But I would also ask any medical professionals reading this to consider how we might be best counselled as a demographic to avoid this happening in the first place.
We may all be steely eyed missile men, able to take the world upon our shoulders but we are also human too.
