Psycho testing

Psychological assessment will be a must for pilots in 2018

The French air investigation agency BEA, heading the case of Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps, urges for new reporting requirements for doctors treating pilots, and new measures to keep pilots from hiding mental health issues.

According to a recently released report, Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of Germanwings flight from Spain to Germany, had been prescribed to use anti-depressants since 2008 and been referred to a psychiatric hospital two weeks before the accident. However, the airline was never notified due to privacy protection rules. The mental health condition of Lubitz is believed to have been a key determinant in the accident.

The BAE report says: “The collision with the ground was due to the deliberate and planned action of the co-pilot who decided to commit suicide while alone in the cockpit. The process for medical certification of pilots, in particular self-reporting in case of decrease in medical fitness between two periodic medical evaluations, did not succeed in preventing the co-pilot, who was experiencing mental disorder with psychotic symptoms, from exercising the privilege of his license.”

The BEA has also urged EASA to permit pilots prescribed anti-depressants to be assessed fit to fly where a medical assessor considers them safe. The agency recommends introducing a mandatory mental health assessment for pilots, which might be finalised and ruled out "in two or three years", said Patrick Ky, Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

As a result, the BEA is urging for better regulations for doctors treating pilots, and new measures to keep pilots from hiding mental health issues to prevent further calamities. It added that pilots will be supported as well as guided, either way, they will be provided with help in order to ensure flight safety. Pilots would be allowed to return to flying duties, where applicable.

The BEA said that laws have to be changed so that medical workers must report concerns about pilots' mental health to authorities, but also acknowledged that its is difficult to balance rights to medical privacy and public safety, and added they don’t want to stigmatize people, who are suffering depression.