It’s such a huge problem to treat mental health like “Oh you had an issue, so you are now shit-listed for life”

This is especially dangerous IMO because it means pilots who realise themselves that they are unfit to fly will simply keep on flying, while trying to hide the symptoms and avoid treatment, because they know that if they truthfully disclose what’s going on then it’s game over for them. It builds the incentive to lie directly into the system.

It’s not just the FAA, it’s all aviation medicals. I’m a Canadian pilot who hasn’t been able to fly for years due to a ridiculously harsh ruling from our medical board requiring years of tests and thousands of dollars out of pocket if I ever want to have the chance to fly again. All over something my local aviation doctor predicted would take a month or two and I’d be back in the air. I tried to fight it but the review process is a joke and took a year before they even contacted me about my case. By that point I had dropped out of the university where I was doing my training to become a commercial pilot.

The big issue is aviation has zero tolerance for risk. Feeling depressed? Medical revoked. Issues sleeping? Medical revoked. Chest aches? Medical revoked. All it can take sometimes is a small issue. The thing is that, lets be honest, given the choice no-one really wants to get on a plane with a depressed or sleep deprived pilot. It’s added risk, so instead we require our pilots to be the healthiest one can be. But everyone has issues, even if you know it or not. There’s a reason alcohol abuse is so common in aviation. The thing that really needs to get figured out is, what’s the solution here? We either make pilots to continue to hide any health issues they have from their aviation medical doctor and pretend they don’t exist, until one day something horrible but totally preventable happens, or we start addressing the medical issues pilots face and being more lenient on what would take away their medical certificate - but then if something happens as a result the liability is now on the aviation governing body for allowing someone with a known issue to fly. The aviation medical system is fundamentally broken but I have no clue how it can be fixed.

So you go to the doctor to get a medical license so you can fly an airplane. The doctor asks if you have any physical issues, you say no. Then he proceeds to ask you about your sex life. And not just a single yes or no question, he goes into great detail asking question upon question.

This is seriously fucked up, a doctor could lose their license where I live asking stuff like that. Like my man you are supposed to see if someone is medically fit to fly, not if they live up to some standard of how women are supposed to behave from the 1800s.

The whole don’t seek mental healthcare ever or you’ll lose your license is also just crazy. I think Mentour Pilot made some videos about that as well.

Iirc this one featured mental health issues among pilots https://youtu.be/988j2-4CdgM

The original youtube video title is : “The FAA is in Crisis”

I hope she gets her license back. Having footage of her crying in the airplane probably isn’t going to help her appeal, sadly.

FAA also have a problem with its ATC branch. Basically they lack fund, workers are overworked, overstressed, tired and procedures are not always safe (visual app for liners, not strong enough phraseology).

This will lead to more deaths and no, it will not have to do with the skin color or sexual preferences of the ATCO.

(+ FAA had a problem as a regulator, see what happened with Boeing)