Pilots And Antidepressants

[Elan Head]

As of today, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will consider the special issuance of a medical certificate to pilots who are taking antidepressants. I posted a blog about it here — http://www.verticalmag.com/control/news/te...=13485&z=17 — along with a link to the original FAA press release.

 

Overall, I think this is a great development. It would be nice if every pilot were perfectly happy, but I sure know a lot of unhappy ones. It's also my gut feeling that a treated depressed pilot is going to be safer than an untreated depressed one — whether that treatment involves antidepressants, counseling, or some combination of the same.

 

Thoughts?

[Bladestrike]

How could anyone that gets to fly helicopters for a living be depressed?!?!?

[pilot5]

Given the state of the industry I think companies should be handing them out to all pilots, could make a huge difference. Happy pilot!

 

Burn baby burn!

[Black Mike]

As an employer, I would rather hire a naturally happy pilot than one that needs drugs or counseling to cope with life. With all the courses we have to take these days, isn't this one of the "strikes against us" when we discuss the events leading up to an accident?

 

G0d, I'm depressed now.

 

B.M.

[MMike]

Uhhh....do you guys have the SLIGHTEST clue how depression works?

[pilot5]

Wouldn`t it just be easier to just grind a bunch up and hit the hanger coffee! Then management wouldn`t have to guess who was unhappy or depressed cause everybody would be content and agreeable. Much like they do in prisions with saltpeter to keep inmates from bending their bunk budy over.

 

**** lets just put in the regs and make it mandatory.

 

The upside is that there would be very little complaining and everybody would be in a happy place

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXrRivLdueE

 

 

[Elvis]

Wouldn`t it just be easier to just grind a bunch up and hit the hanger coffee! Then management wouldn`t have to guess who was unhappy or depressed cause everybody would be content and agreeable. Much like they do in prisions with saltpeter to keep inmates from bending their bunk budy over.

 

**** lets just put in the regs and make it mandatory.

 

You could also plant RF chips in their necks to track them.

 

[pilot5]

You could also plant RF chips in their necks to track them.

 

 

Hold on we may be on to something here!

[Elan Head]

OK, not to bring everyone down again, BUT... a couple of notes. Black Mike, in my friend's suicide note (which is pretty damned hard to read, but I pulled it up again for reference) he wrote: "I specifically acted in a way to give no clues that I planned to end my life." And in fact, the last email I got from him was pretty chipper. I think it's hard to be 100 percent sure that you really are hiring those "naturally happy" pilots, especially when around 16 percent of people (estimates vary) experience depression at some point in their lives.

 

But hey, pilots in Canada can ALREADY seek help for depression — it's just the U.S. that was behind the times. And maybe you guys are onto something about the coffee. I mean, why else would 30 million people be addicted to Tim Horton's and have convinced themselves that they enjoy living in a frozen wasteland?

[Black Mike]

OK, not to bring everyone down again, BUT... a couple of notes. Black Mike, in my friend's suicide note (which is pretty damned hard to read, but I pulled it up again for reference) he wrote: "I specifically acted in a way to give no clues that I planned to end my life." And in fact, the last email I got from him was pretty chipper. I think it's hard to be 100 percent sure that you really are hiring those "naturally happy" pilots, especially when around 16 percent of people (estimates vary) experience depression at some point in their lives.

 

But hey, pilots in Canada can ALREADY seek help for depression — it's just the U.S. that was behind the times. And maybe you guys are onto something about the coffee. I mean, why else would 30 million people be addicted to Tim Horton's and have convinced themselves that they enjoy living in a frozen wasteland?

 

Elan,

As small helicopter company owner/operators, we cannot be psychiatrists and figure out everyones issues, and in your friends case, probably nothing was obvious. The way I look at it, if 2 prospective employees showed up on our doorstep, similar qualifications, similar attitude, one that was naturally happy and one that needed anti depressants to be the same, I would hire the person that didn't require drugs and counseling.

 

This is just my opinion, everyone may not agree, and that is O.K.

 

Snowing here today, fire season delayed a couple more weeks. Now I am depressed again.

 

B.M.