Pilots And Mental Illness

     Unfortunately, Germanwings Flight 9525 was the last flight for 144 passengers including 16 students and 2 teachers, a British engineer and a prominent opera singer with her partner and toddler child, Felix. The airbus took off from Barcelona, Spain to arrive at Dusseldorf airport in Germany but never made it as it crashed 62 miles North-west of Nice in the French Alps. This was the first crash in the 18 year history of Germanwings airline.

     The crash was deliberately caused by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, after he was instructed by his captain, Patrick Sondenheimer, to prepare for landing while he excused himself to use the bathroom. Unknown to the Captain, he was leaving the controls of the aircraft in the hands of a psychiatric patient diagnosed with depression. Captain Sondenheimer should have been more vigilant after he got a very cryptic and quite nervy response from his co-pilot. "Hopefully", he said. "we'll see". After the Captain left the cocpit, first officer Andreas Lubitz locked the door and disabled the access panel. Without responding the calls, shouts and banging on the door from his Captain, without responding to ATC calls, he set the autopilot to descend to 100 feet and accelerated the speed of the descending aircraft several times before it eventually crashed into the side of a mountain in the French Alps.

     The co-pilot's mental illness was documented and he shouldn't have been allowed to fly in his conditions. Also, he's shown a pattern of lying and deception which should have raised a red flag to his superiors including his curt response to the Captain which should have seriously bothered the Captain. Prior to the accident he had an episode that made him drop out of flight training which was treated and he was cleared for duty. He was also required to be examined by Lufthansa's Aeromedical center due to the SIC notation on his medical records.

     Based on the Pilot Fitness Aviation Rule-making Committee Report published on November 18, 2015 there are several recommendations for tackling Pilot mental illness and the FAA in conjunction with Aircarriers have been battling to raise awareness and implement these programs. I think from the perspective of the Airlines and the FAA taking serious measures like this will only further reduce the number of pilots we have and airlines will definitely loose money, which lets be honest is as important as safety when it comes to priority. I think the airlines will also be very reluctant to do anything because the number of mental illness related accidents are very low. In other words they probably wouldn't see the need to fix something that's not really that broken yet. I think it'll be a slow, long process to fully implement any measures to eradicate mental illness among pilots. 

REFERENCES

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/committees/documents/media/pilot%20fitness%20arc%20report.11302015.pdf

https://www.gq.com/story/germanwings-flight-9525-final-moments

Flying Cheap and Professionalism

     The buzz about the shortage in pilots is one that I've heard more than anything else over the past few years and I believe it's true. Last Christmas alone American airlines faced severe pilot shortage. The scheduling system allowed too many pilots take time off for the holidays and there wasn't even pilots to fill in. As a result thousands of flights had no crew. It was also reported in the "Dallas Business Journal" that American Airlines is offering signing bonuses of up to $45,000 for experienced pilots. I think all evidence points to the fact that there aren't enough pilots in the industry at the moment. Also I don't think the pay increase will solve the pilot shortage problem because according to Brent Bowen, dean of the college of aviation at the Prescott campus, entry level pay for first officers has rebounded in the last year and signing bonuses of up to $60,000 at air carriers. And across the board, pilots have been payed more over the past two decades. So my thing is, if the increase in pay hasn't solved anything for the twenty years, it's not going to change anything now.
     The 1500-hour rule was birth, in my opinion, from complains of aviation ignorant people who needed to see something change, didn't matter what changed, they just needed to see something change. Understandably, due to their grief and what they where facing they needed someone or something to blame and something to hold on to. They needed some kind of closure. And they got it, the rule makers increased the requirement for hours needed to fly for passenger and cargo airlines. Among other things of course. This affects the hiring pool at regional airlines because the rule has made it more expensive to get an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate. It has also made the time to get an ATP significantly longer. These factors can be discouraging for any student thinking about applying for an ATP and so it reduces the applicants the regional airlines receive which of course reduces their options to hire. 
     Professionalism is the conduct and qualities one exhibits on the job without fail. From the documentary the captain and first officer's conduct before and during the flight lacked professionalism. Also, the administrative culture lacked a lot of professionalism.
     I feel like the first year pay and compensation structure of regional airlines did contribute to the lack of professionalism demonstrated in the documentary because if I or anyone for that matter was treated the same way there is a high probability that the job wouldn't be taken as seriously as it probably should. If my employers don't think my services are worth much then it seems to me that my job isn't worth much either, so why break my back for something that doesn't seem worth it ?
     As my definition implies, my professionalism is my conduct so the first way I'll maintain my level of professionalism is to be who I am. Act the way I was raised, with dignity and self serving. The second way I'll expand my level of professionalism is to look/ dress how I want to be addressed. Basically, dressing the part or more.

REFERENCES

http://www.travelweekly.com/Robert-Silk/How-1500-hour-rule-created-pilot-shortage

https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=14838

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/11/aa-nightmare-before-christmas/

Personal Introduction

     This long ride into the aviation industry started only a few years ago, sometime in 2012. I didn't grow up in an aviation family or have any affiliation with the industry but I think the desire to do something different, and not be what people expected of me drove me to think of alternative career paths that I'd enjoy, make good money and command some prestige from my peers and family. Engineering and architecture where possibilities until my aunt told me of how her late husband passed. Turns out, he was a pilot. Didn't die on the job but that was the first I heard of or actually thought of flying or aviation as a career. After that, I couldn't get this fantasy of being a pilot out of my head and in a bigger way than I thought made me decide to find out what was what in the aviation industry. 

     Anyway, after a few years in a few places and gathering information here I am. Currently, my major is in aviation management and dispatch with a general business minor and I intend to graduate in the spring on 2019.

     The future is something no one knows, we can try to predict and work towards goals but we just don't know. My plans for the future is to work as a dispatcher for Air Georgian, a Canadian regional airline for Air Canada while working on my masters and eventually work my way up to work for Air Canada itself.

     Moving on in this class the main things I'd like to be covered include, job opportunities, options for young graduates with little or no experience, progressing through the ranks, leadership, career after aviation (after active flying/managing/dispatching etc) and possibly awareness for the industry for the general public and within the industry.