In 2014, over a year ago, I wrote a blog on this site with the heading;
How often is a pilot’s mental health tested by a registered psychiatrist with infinite experience? When is he/she tested? When that person applies for this most responsible of positions? Is that person tested every two years, every four years? In that blog, I also wondered why the black box found on every aircraft is not far more sophisticated than it is today. Surely in today’s age of high-technology this most important issue could be handled electronically?
2015 While the outrage about the Germanwings A320 plane that crashed is understandable, some newspapers have linked depression with violence and murder. When it emerged that Andreas Lubitz had atually had a history of depression and had seen a doctor, does that underline the fact that all people with depression are automatic risks to public safety? Given some of the media headings, one would think so.
Lubitz might have hidden his depression from his employers due to the stigma associated with mental illness as it’s never easy to admit that one needs time off due to a depression. Whatever his reason might have been, we do have to be careful not to lump everyone in the same category.
My heart goes out to all the families who lost near and dear ones in this unneccessary and shocking plane crash. May God be with you all.
I do have compassion in my heart for Mr. and Mrs. Lubitz and their immediate family members. If their son, Andreas was in a depression, they need to know that mental illness is nobody’s fault. I cannot begin to envision what they must be going through.
