Pilot mental disorders are believed to have played a part in 17 accidents and incidents over the past 35 years, including nine fatal accidents that resulted in 576 deaths, according to a study by researchers in the Netherlands.1
The fatal accidents were related primarily to the pilot’s difficulty coping with “negative life events” such as relationship problems, legal problems and work-related stress, the study said, adding that although there is general agreement on the need for mental health screening of airline pilots, there is little evidence of how to improve current methods of managing mental health risks.
The study, published in the January issue of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance, said that researchers searched aviation accident and incident reports and reports in general media to identify events in which an official investigation — or at least one party to the investigation — had concluded that the pilot’s deliberate actions were t…
