Poll: Is The FAA Correct To Put More Resources Into Pilot Mental Health?
3 COMMENTS
The FAA (or ANY government regulation ANYWHERE)has rarely made ANYTHING better with regulation–it is the nature of government to consistently over-reach, with a “one size fits all” mentality.
Yes–there needs to be a standard–and Yes, there will always be people that will “get through the filter.” Consider that EVERY ONE of the recent airline pilot “melt-downs” PASSED A FIRST CLASS PHYSICAL (and years of other exams with multiple physicians PASSED AN EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND CHECK PASSED MULTIPLE FAA CHECK RIDES PASSED MULTIPLE GROUND AND FLIGHT TRAINING SCHOOLS PASSED MULTIPLE AIRLINE “LINE CHECKS”
It will NEVER be perfect, but there comes a time when you just have to say “This is enough.” I know that I WOULD RATHER BE RIDING IN A CAR BEING DRIVEN BY AN AIRLINE PILOT THAN I WOULD WITH THE AVERAGE DRIVER–yet nobody calls for “more mental health exams” for drivers (and those same drivers are called upon to MISS EACH OTHER BY INCHES in two-way traffic–every day!)
The FAA (or ANY government regulation ANYWHERE)has rarely made ANYTHING better with regulation–it is the nature of government to consistently over-reach, with a “one size fits all” mentality.
Yes–there needs to be a standard–and Yes, there will always be people that will “get through the filter.” Consider that EVERY ONE of the recent airline pilot “melt-downs” PASSED A FIRST CLASS PHYSICAL (and years of other exams with multiple physicians
PASSED AN EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND CHECK
PASSED MULTIPLE FAA CHECK RIDES
PASSED MULTIPLE GROUND AND FLIGHT TRAINING SCHOOLS
PASSED MULTIPLE AIRLINE “LINE CHECKS”
It will NEVER be perfect, but there comes a time when you just have to say “This is enough.” I know that I WOULD RATHER BE RIDING IN A CAR BEING DRIVEN BY AN AIRLINE PILOT THAN I WOULD WITH THE AVERAGE DRIVER–yet nobody calls for “more mental health exams” for drivers (and those same drivers are called upon to MISS EACH OTHER BY INCHES in two-way traffic–every day!)
Excellent Jim. You nailed it.
No way. I do not trust government.