How many airline pilots are depressed but untreated; or, have been diagnosed with depression and are secretly medicating themselves with anti-depressants? Nobody knows because, under current FAA rules, admitting to such an ailment or treatment would result in being grounded from flying. Pilots have a strong incentive to hide the truth.<\/p>\n
The FAA hopes all that will change with the announcement this morning of a new policy. Starting next Monday, pilots who come forward and admit they\u2019re taking medication for mild to moderate depression will be eligible for a special medical certificate.<\/p>\n
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt says, \u201c We know more today about the science of the medications being given and we know a lot more about depression itself.\u201d As a result, says Babbitt, \u201cThe policy is changing, I mean our number one priority is safety and the public certainly has the right to know that everybody in the cockpit is healthy, both mentally and physically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pilots previously were not allowed to take anti-depressants. The new FAA rules will allow pilots to use four commonly prescribed medications to counteract depression: Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa and Lexapro. Others may be added to the list as the agency becomes confident they\u2019re safe and effective.<\/p>\n
Under the new policy, pilots would be given a six month grace period. If they come forward during that time and admit they\u2019re taking anti-depressants, they would avoid civil penalties. But, they could be barred from flying for up to 1 year as the government undertakes a number of tests and evaluations.<\/p>\n
Even after that evaluation period, pilots would be required to undergo psychiatric examination twice a year, in addition to the already-required annual physical checkup.<\/p>\n
Anti-depressants have a long list of side-effects. The most severe are also the most rare, but they include seizures, problems with eyesight, memory loss, hallucinations and thoughts of suicide.<\/p>\n
Babbitt says, \u201cWe want to make certain that those side effects don’t manifest themselves as they go under these medications.\u201d That\u2019s why, he says, the new rules include, \u201ca long period of time of evaluation and even when they return to the cockpit, (pilots) will continue to be evaluated the rest of their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there are no numbers available on how many pilots might be keeping their depression secret as they continue flying, it\u2019s generally accepted that about 10-percent of the general population are suffering from depression. That could mean that 25-thousand of the nation\u2019s quarter of a million commercial pilots are suffering from depression.<\/p>\n
Administrator Babbitt says this new rule is aimed, in part, at removing the stigma of mental illness, much as the FAA began to deal with drug abuse and alcoholism in the cockpit with the establishment 40 years ago of its Human Intervention and Motivation Study.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people heard that there were going to be pilots who had been alcoholics returning to the cockpit, there was concern,\u201d says Babbitt. \u201cBut\u2026 that program took a lot of people that needed help, they got the help and they finished great careers as safe pilots. And I think that’s what this is going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Babbitt insists the flying public will be safer with the new policy. \u201cWhen you get in an airplane you ought to be comfortable that airplane is being maintained and its being operated by people that are qualified and healthy,\u201d says the Administrator. \u201cAnd that \u2018healthy\u2019 means physical and mental.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How many airline pilots are depressed but untreated; or, have been diagnosed with depression and are secretly medicating themselves with anti-depressants? Nobody knows because, under current FAA rules, admitting to such an ailment or treatment would result in being grounded from flying. Pilots have a strong incentive to hide the truth. The FAA hopes all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6604,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-504373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6604"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}