Just another suicide then !
Like many interested persons, whether a professional pilot, doctor, paying customer, accident investigator, airplane manufacturer, airline operator or politician , to name a few.
I have skin in the game, I have posted here and spoken to anyone patient enough to give me the time of day.
I have been moderated off a few times when my opinion isn’t as desired. I understand moderators have a difficult job, apparent criticising of the dead and liable all come into play.
So my beef isn’t the 100 % truth to any accident investigation, there is always grey. A lot of factors and detail.
The official report into the German Wings crash of 24 Mar 2015 is worth a thorough read by any person interested in flying safety. Especially pilots and doctors. Everything is there in black and white, a very well written and thought out report.
So the problem is nothing has changed re: pilot suicide.
Depending on your point of view there have been say 6 pilot suicides of commercial airliners, with large loss of life.
If the crash happens to occur in the country of the operating airline, the “ conclusions “ of the report are wishy washy.
Boeing and Airbus know exactly what happened, but obviously they want to keep selling airplanes to these operators.
So they play stumb ( stupid and dumb )
So my beef is prevention, or the lack of action on prevention !
There were many warnings in the behaviour of some of the pilots if not all in previous crashes caused by “ deliberate “ crew action.
I have tried to push this issue with people above me, the standard reply “ oh it’s so rare, we have other priorities! “
We’ll a 1,000 dead people or so isn’t an insignificant amount.
As the manufactures improve aircraft design and the pilots and the airlines get there act together for safer operations, ATC, met, security at airports etc etc
Crashing of modern airliners has gone from 1 or 2 a week in the 1960s to 1 or 2 a year recently.
With a lot more flying, a lot more flying ! But we now have the locked door policy which I’m not so sure is always a benefit!
So the very rare pilot suicide is now becoming a highly significant factor as planes don’t so much crash these days. ( conveniently shoot downs other “ external “ factors are not included in most statistics, another area of concern for me ! )
So back to the topic of preventing pilot suicide.
It’s not difficult, all the work has been done. All we need is to accept that pilots are human beings and have formal and informal procedures to follow.
Just like, aviation weather or and aircraft’s technical status, we need to assess another area of risk.
There are other industries where this is formally looked at and dealt with on a day to day basis.
All the aviation industry needs to do is find a system that works.
But first we have to accept the reality of the situation.
Sweeping the risk the risk under the carpet is no longer acceptable .
We just need to deal with it .
Hand wringing after the next “ tragic unforeseen possible pilot suicide, unexplained very strange crash “ isn’t acceptable.
Many aviation professionals claim to be “ proactive “ with safety, total ball****, it has always been reactive.
Look at any crash report, from Kegworth to 737 Max.
“ we need to improve aeroplane design and train the pilots better “
how about some proactive safety ?
The report into the German Wings crash should be required reading for all of us.
To expect a doctor in a 30 min or 1 hour examination once a year to spot a suicide risk is not realistic.
People change their behaviour in exams and also crises in life don’t always happen when it’s time for your annual medical !
So I’m not an expert or qualified in this area but we need a system that can absorb, “ self “ reporting, active airline management ( as opposed to eyes closed management ), “ peer “ reporting , family and friends.
The arbitrator of this information being a mental health professional or someone adequately trained in this area.
As I stated above, there are industries where this already happens.
I haven’t worked in any of these industries, but from what I have heard in casual conversations, people are assessed before work by a series of questions to ascertain their mental health.
Informally we nearly always do this anyway before flights.
“ come in far today, how was your drive ? “
” your a new face, how are you enjoying the job? How is the training ? “
these are all ritual sniffing, but unfortunately if the answers you get are worrisome, we don’t have procedures to act.
Essentially we should have a set of checks in our heads, once someone clearly isn’t “ all together “ today, you are empowered to act.
So time for the standby or a cancellation, which is always difficult to do. The management pressure is always “ what the f*** , what do you mean a cancellation! “
But for safety sometimes someone has to say stop ! As all professional pilots know .
So let’s bite the bullet and adopt a system that accepts pilots are humans, we all need someone sometimes to say.
” Thanks for coming in today, but we think you need a rest ! “
It’s exactly like the weather or an aircraft’s technical status, it’s not rocket science, all the work has been done. We just need a system that has a procedure if there are even “ small “ concerns.
Someone who has training in this area should make the final decision, and definitely not airline management !