Originally Posted by
A Squared
OK, everyplace that the Daily Mail article refers to fear of flying, lets replace that with "social anxiety of a degree which interferes with him performing as a flight crew" I don't see that the situation has changed meaningfully.
Well it changes the context by removing the sensationalist click bait crap out of it. One definition of social anxiety is "
the fear of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, self-consciousness, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression." Probably enough there to say this guy has a mental health issue and shouldn't be on the flight deck of a commercial airliner. But in fairness to him he voluntarily withdrew himself and called in sick rather than hiding his problem.
Funny really but I can relate to a kind of similar event that I have only recognised reading this thread. I was a local examiner and route checker for non-pilot military aircrew in a previous life. One of our top guys on the squadron showed signs of withdrawal which no one took any real notice of until he started making rookies errors while flying. We brought forward his six monthly check ride and I was instructed to assess him. I failed him on the check ride on things I couldn't believe including pre-flight checklist failures missing challenge and response checklist items or just not responding to them. I reported to the CO and recommended he be suspended from flying pending assessment for return to flying duties whereupon the CO could not believe that this top guy could suddenly be in that position. He interviewed him and received very little feedback or explanation to his questions and was left with no option but to approve my recommendation. The hope was that we could work on this guy and get back on the horse again but after 6 months in a ground job he left the military. He had over 5000 hours on type and there was no suggestion he was scared of flying but his actions, inactions and withdrawal seem to fit well with the definition of social anxiety now I have seen this.