Pilots and mental illness

[Strega]

I just learned today, a fellow colleague took his life, after dealing with a bump in the road with respect to his career...
[font=Verdana][/font]
how much effort to we all (as a combined effort) put into trying to really understand what is happening inside the minds of our friends and co workers?
Just a thought...  been a not so great day..

[vanNostrum]

[font=verdana]For a lot of people it is very difficult to let others, see the hopelessness ,loneliness and the pain they  may have inside, while  carrying on with a smile[/font]
[font=verdana]As pilots we are suposed to be ''in control'' and are very reluctant to share what may be perceived as a weakness
If you had  known your friend/coworkers emotional state, I'm sure  you would have extended a hand[/font]






'

[Colonel]

A friend of mine killed himself a while back -
drove his car into a tree.  The last time I met
him, at the Gatineau airshow he looked terrible -
he had lost weight and was obviously depressed. 

He was taking his divorce entirely too seriously -
he had bought into the bullshit spewed at him
that he was a [b]BAD PERSON[/b].

Oh yeah, TC hated his guts.  I guess those
nasty fucks must have been happy when they
heard the news.  A victory for them.

I always liked him.  Great stick, excellent instructor.

I wish he had taken my advice and said "Fuck
you, Ottawa" and gone flying overseas.  I told
him he could send postcards to his ex, "The
weather is here, wish you were beautiful" with
pictures of him with the local brown talent.

Oh, well.  Blue skies, buddy.

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[esp803]

[quote author=Colonel Sanders link=topic=4169.msg11126#msg11126 date=1473398719]
Oh yeah, TC hated his guts.  I guess those
nasty fucks must have been happy when they
heard the news.  A victory for them.
[/quote]

This is now the stupidest thing you have ever posted. Sorry for the loss of your friend, but this comment is just asinine.

As to the original comment, despite what some on here may think it's more then just an understanding of physics that makes a safe pilot, an understanding of psychology is also important. I do not think the industry monitors the mental health of pilots enough, and I suspect depression due to divorce, missing important events, shit wages, long hours takes its toll on more than a few of us. A lot of people enter the industry with dreams of being a captain on an airliner without realizing that that dream is not a short term goal, and there is a lot of hardship between getting that license and the eventual "dream job"

E

[Gravel Digger]

Strega,


I haven't been able to stop thinking about this for the past few days, I'm grateful that you brought it up. I have such an uneasy feeling about how things went for him.


This happens a lot more in our industry than anyone even lets on. Mental health still carries a stigma to it that we only seem to magnify further in aviation. I feel like we (our industry) let him down. I feel like will continue to let each other down.


We build quite a persona into being "the pilot". It serves us well, helps us be confident, helps us make good decisions based on sound judgement. There is a bi-product to that though. When you've built a life out of being an aviator, and, for whatever reason, it is taken away from you or temporarily put on hold, if things aren't well balanced, it's easy to end up in a very dark, lonely place.


My heart breaks that someone had to go down that road once more, not seeing that so many people would have had his back.

[Colonel]

[quote]This is now the stupidest thing you have ever posted[/quote]

I'm just a stupid fucking airshow pilot.
What would I know, compared to an
SOP monkey?

I stand by my observation about the
nasty fucks at TC being happy.  They
have put a lot of effort into killing me,
presumably to justify their exceedingly
bizarre actions.  So far, they have not
succeeded but I am sure they will.  It's
just a matter of time.

I have stated before that the two most
dangerous things I have ever done in an
airplane (and that is really saying something)
were done at the insistence of two different
TC Inspectors.  They cannot all be morons,
therefore at least some of the are malevolent.

You haven't been on the receiving end of
a TC campaign, have you?  It's a life sentence.

[pdw]

Nope, not true IMO. If someone is after you in the way you've described it's only a matter of time and it short circuits itself. In order for that to happen you have to try to forget it .... (sounds impossible i know .. i know). It's not the first goverment organization to have that problem ... so just let it blow itself out without your help Col ...  while being extra vigilant to make no mistakes in the rest of you're game, ...ie keep your eye on the ball, nose to the grindstone, and ear to the ground like you have been doing. My nickel's worth only.


Let's honour this topic and keep it carefull. One of my kids did the thesis on [i] study of mental illness, [/i]and was co author in an MI study featured on the National the other day. There's hope out there / help is available ... just got to  '[i]t r y[/i] '(edited) and find help, or sometimes be one to assist another (give someone a good turn). Beyond that, you simply cannot take blame for someone else's (suspected) suicide decision; not your fault, period.

[David MacRay]

PDW, I know your intention is good but telling people to "bite the bullet" "keep your eye on the ball" "nose to"...

This can be super damaging. Getting your pilots licenses in Canada is a lot of work. Sometimes after that work people are in debt. The whole message to new pilots going up north is allways bring gloves and work hard maybe you will get to fly a plane..

Suddenly a medical issue that you did not even know about until it is found on a trip to the CAME and you lose everything.

You just can't say, "Work hard and fix it." All they have been doing was "working hard." That situation is very bad and needs some compassion.

[pdw]

Oops fixed it ... some grammar errors sure can be offensive (sorry about that)


Condolences to those who lost a friend.

[mcrit]

I think the thought of getting their medicals pulled deters most pilots from getting help for stress/depression etc......