Pilot Mental Illness: Germanwings 9525

3/2015, Germanwings Flight 4U9525

In March of 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525, an A320-211 with 150 people on board, was flown into a mountainside in the French Alps by the co-pilot at 403 mph. The leg was scheduled to be a 2 hour international flight from Spain to Germany. The flight’s captain, Sondenheimer, was locked out of the cockpit by co-pilot Lubitz after leaving for the bathroom. Immediately after the captain had left the cockpit (at Lubitz suggestion), the co-pilot locked the door and set the aircraft’s autopilot to an altitude selection of 100 feet at maximum operating speed. ATC took note of the aircraft’s unauthorized decent and attempted making contact; Lubitz disregarded all ATC calls as well as communication from other aircraft. Sondenheimer tried his keypad access code, pounded on the door, and called to Lubitz before taking a crowbar to the door in attempts to pry it open. The crash killed everyone on board.

Lubitz’ mental illness was documented and being treated by multiple doctors with multiple antidepressants and sick-leave notices. However, his condition was not reported to the FAA during his training in Arizona, nor was it reported to Lubitz’ employers Lufthansa or Germanwings.

Prior to the accident Lubitz had recurring medical issues as a result of his mental condition. He was hospitalized for a depressive episode in 2008 and reported to multiple doctors with complaints of tintunitis, blindness, and various other maladies prior to the crash. He was prescribed several antidepressants by psychiatrists and was known to be depressive. Lubitz was provided numerous sick-leave notes and advises to take time off of flying for mental health recovery, he obtained these notes and never reported them to Germanwings or took the time off work. It was recommended that he check himself into a psychotic depressive ward as one psychiatrists noted he was on the verge of a psychotic episode. None of his medical professionals reported their findings to his employer and many likely assumed he was turning the sick-leave notices in and taking time off when necessary. German regulations prohibit violations of doctor-patient confidentiality laws; a  likely cause of the silence from his psychiatrists and other doctors.

In November of 2013, Mozambican flight 407 on an Embraer 190 carrying 27 passengers and 6 crew was crashed by the pilot after he locked the co-pilot out of the cockpit, manually overtook the autopilot inputs, and flew the aircraft into swampland in the Bwabwata National Park of Namibia. It is believed the pilot’s controlled direct descent into terrain was the result of mental instability and an underlying mental health condition that had gone undetected by the airline.

Currently, mental health is vaguely screened for in medical certificate evaluations by the examiner over the course of exam-related conversation. A pilot is required to complete an FAA questionnaire inquiring into mental health history, medication, and other associated treatment. Largely, these responses are expected and accepted to be entirely truthful and are not investigated in depth upon completion.

Further down the line, many airlines supply crew candidates with psychological exams prior to employment to screen for personality conflicts with the company culture and safety standards. These exams may be capable of detecting mental health concerns, but it is not their primary design.

This method across the industry is insufficient to firewall against mental health related risks and disasters in the air.

If you feel that there is need for reform, what specific processes would address pilot mental health more efficiently?

A more intentional section of the initial medical certification process which dedicates time to screening a pilot’s mental health condition would be a useful and worthwhile addition to the licensing process.

In the airline world, periodic (annual?) mental health checkups with psychologists provided by the company to ensure all pilots are fit to fly is a simplistic, realistic response to begin the process of integrating greater safety standards in pilot mental health in the airlines.

Self reporting is another viable option to be explored, a format similar to NASA’s ASRS could supply the framework for a pilot reporting system in the future.

Some challenges the FAA and airlines may face by taking an accepting approach to implementing mental health standards and treatment are trepidation from crew that their medical or certification could be endangered by “answering wrong” to reviews of mental health. Prioritizing mental health will undoubtedly cost the airlines. Lastly,  mental health reviews before receiving a medical certificate will complicate the process and perhaps extend its timeline.

References

Mayday: Crash in the Alps[Video file]. (2016, June 1). Retrieved January 23, 2018, from http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x59g084

Hammer, J. (2016, February 22). The Real Story of Germanwings Flight 9525. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from https://www.gq.com/story/germanwings-flight-9525-final-moments