Mental Fitness for Pilots

Since the 2015 tragedy of GermanWings Flight 9525, the European aviation community has been working towards strengthening the continent’s aviation safety. As a result, on July 25, 2018, the Commission of the European Union (EU) published new safety rules, including new provisions to better support the mental fitness of air crew.

The GermanWings tragedy resulted in new rules in the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand among others, requiring two members of flight crew to be in the cockpit at all times. Meanwhile, the EU flagged the mandatory psychological testing in 2016 but the new rules were not published until recently.

According to the Official Journal of the EU, The Regulation, which is to be directly applicable in all member states, includes the following safety measures:

• Support program: all pilots working for European airlines will have access to a support program that will assist and support pilots in recognizing, coping with, and overcoming problems which might negatively affect their ability to safely exercise the privileges of their license.
• Alcohol testing: As an additional safety barrier, alcohol testing of pilots and cabin crew for all European and foreign airlines who fly into the territories of the European Union, has been added. Alcohol testing is already a well-established practice in some Member States and with this Regulation alcohol testing will now be extended to all EU Member States within the next two years.
• Psychological assessment: European airlines will perform a psychological assessment of their pilots before the start of employment.

I have mentioned many times that Airline pilots today are under a lot more pressure than 25 years ago. With many pilots flying the maximum allowable hours and the salaries still sitting where they were 25 years ago, the pressure is on. As a pilot you really have to look at your health carefully, but airlines need to also have a closer look at roster patterns. I know many pilots that are continuously fatigued, but keep flying because they need the money.

When you own a private jet you have the benefit of selecting your own pilots and also decide how much they are going to fly. The benefit of having people you know fly you around and knowing you are looking after them is a great plus. Certainly the new regulations will help improve the situation for the airlines but as always things in aviation change after a plane has crashed and people died. As a private jet owner, you can prevent things from happening by hiring the right amount of pilots, so they can spread the workload and offering them a good remuneration package.

There is talk about a pilot shortage, which I think is not as bad as the newspapers are trying to tell you. If you offer a pilot a good package, he/she will join your operation and stay. Flight schools are still attracting students however the word has got out there that being a professional pilot isn't as glamorous as it used to be. Today technology has also opened up lots of other more lucrative careers for young people, without them having to spend $150,000+ to becoming a pilot.

So, just to sum things up: Psychological profiling is going to help and so are support groups. However, I do think that each individual pilot needs to look carefully at their health and make sure they are always fit to fly.

Fabrizio Poli is an independent aviation consultant specialized in aircraft sales. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker & has been featured on Russia Today (RT), TRT World, Social Media Examiner, Bloomberg, Channel 5, Chicago Tribune, Daily Telegraph, City Wealth Magazine, Billionaire.com, Wealth X, Financial Times, El Financiero and many other Media offering insight on the aviation world. Fabrizio is also regularly featured as an Aviation Analyst on Russia Today (RT) and TRT World. Fabrizio is also aviation special correspondent Most Magazine. Fabrizio is also considered one of the world's top 30 experts in using Linkedin for business. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube available both in video & audio. You can also follow Fabrizio's aviation videos on Biz Jet TV  Fabrizio's latest book "Health4Flyers", the first natural-health book for and frequent flyers is now available worldwide.