This is terrible for everyone involved.
I have zero idea what the solution is.
[Edit]
After a little thought, honestly, automate the whole thing. Yes it removes an entire industry, but progress?
I have zero idea what the solution is.
[Edit]
After a little thought, honestly, automate the whole thing. Yes it removes an entire industry, but progress?
A lot of recent developments made things possible that were previously outrageous. Pilots will be reduced to mere backup, and eventually completely replaced by autonomous systems, just like the train engineers do nowadays, with the only pilots working remotely in command centers ready to take over if needed.
If we can do remote surgeries using robots, there’s no reason this couldn’t be a thing.
TBH that would cause way many problems than it potentially could solve, not even mentioning the technical difficulties to implement.
Though I agree with the rest, there should be a solution.
Such operations are gimmicks; the reality is that there has to be a surgeon present who is capable of doing the operation themselves.
We need pilots with mental health issues to seek treatment for the safety of themselves and more importantly passengers. The mental health issue may be resistant to treatment or otherwise disqualify them from flying in the near or long term. When that happens, they lose their career.
A robust system for handling this eventuality, much like getting injured on the job, needs to be put in place.
The problem is people think that any 'solution' to this problem needs to be perfect. "What if we never find out this guy was a problem" comes up. No. You just need to make the next system net _better_. Don't delay forward progress because the next step isn't "perfect".
It would solve the problem of "pilot needs someone to talk to about their issues with their wife", which is nice. But don't know if it solves the larger issue being discussed.
Put yourself in a pilot's shoes. Would you attend sessions if there was ANY chance of you not being able to fly? Would others? It's optional and your entire career hinges on not being grounded once. That's you, your family, and anyone else who depends on your income.
The perception of this solution is still the same as the current one - I can be grounded.
Initially it might work, but once that first guy gets grounded via the program (or maybe a few), word gets out that's what this system ends up doing - you're right back here wondering what the solution was that was so easy.
Mental health, "relatively easy" to fake esp if there's a lot of money waiting for you on the other-side if you get it right.
I frequently get in arguments with my extended family because I believe pedophiles and criminals have rights. I talk about the documented history of innocent people being convicted of a crimes, but there are many guilty offenders. I want prison conditions to be better, and I use it as an example of "if you care about human rights, you care about them for everyone. Even convicted rapists and murderers." Sometimes I go off on another tangent because we should care about rights for immigrants as well. :) Then I lead into a 2nd bit where I say, "There are many pedophiles out there. People who have the tendencies, and people who have acted. We know that women who are pedophiles go under or un-reported." To treat some of this, we need mental health facilities available even for people we find disgusting and monstrous. We need a safe environment where they can go in anonymously and seek help. It may prevent someone who is just thinking about children from touching a child. Most people would rather just execute a SUSPECTED pedophile. That's how you get someone to hate themselves and the world and children and act on their impulses. Make the stigma and the reality for them worse. We love doing it in prisons. We love making prisoners suffer as a society.
So to draw the awful parallel: We need mental health facilities available for pilots with no ability to report-out on how many are effected. We need to ensure anonymity, and provide resources with no idea of how well they may be helping someone on the edge. Maybe loose/aggregate data points can be reported, but my strongest emphasis would be on providing anonymous support that is always and frequently available.
If you care about pilots and the passengers they ensure safety for, you need to extend the resources with no indication of how effective that is. You want them to receive care/treatment, for what very well could be a moments' ailment. If there is a long-term issue, it may help them with coping strategies. The alternative is letting it go untreated, and putting others at risk.
If the expectation is for people who are sick to further worsen their condition by becoming unemployed and discard themselves then the system is broken - simple as.