precluding him from obtaining a licence
I'd be very surprised if that's the case
Sunny, though it doesn't take much to surprise me these days. Plenty of folk with "D" flying, with ATPL as well. Depends on the individuals state of course, seen guys remove themselves from the cockpit voluntarily to get treatment, and returned to the job following treatment. In some cases the treatment is long term via medication, but doesn't necessarily keep you out of the cockpit. CASA med have been at the forefront world wide in getting such people back on the job. Hate to think they have thrown in the towel and changed position. They did a study some years ago and found treated folk were safer than the general pilot population, albeit from a small data base, so may mean nothing. Society needs to get over the mind set that the individual with depression is an axe murderer in the making, though protagonists can make much of such cases as Germanwings.