Germanwings Flight 4U9525 Crash

On a clear March day, an Airbus A320 crashed into the Alps carrying 150 souls.  This plane was not brought down due to a mechanical failure nor due to weather.  Andrea Lubitz, a 28 year old, low hour first officer decided to purposefully direct the A320 into the ground as a suicide.  He locked the cockpit door and watched as the plane careened toward the ground.  He took not only his own life, but all aboard that fateful day.  Lubitz struggled with depression although did not provide any of this information to his employer (Engel & Zang, 2015).  This may have been due too him looking out for his possible career demise.  After the accident a note was found written from his psychiatrist.  This note explained that Andrea Lubitz was not fit to fly.

Another similar accident was the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 350.  On final approach Captain Seiji Katagiri pulled the thrust reversers causing the DC-8 to crash into Tokyo Bay.  Of the 174 souls onboard, only 24 died.  This was in part to the First Officer and Flight Engineer regaining partial control of the aircraft (Wrigley, 2014).  The pilot actually snuck off the seen posing as a "businessman" on the flight. He was later arrested, but was actually found "not guilty", due to insanity (Wrigley, 2014).  The flight crew told investigators he had been acting weird leading up to the crash.  

An airline pilot has to undergo a medical evaluation once to twice a year depending on the persons age.  The depth of this evaluation is quite minimal and lacks some necessary points.  In order to create a safer aviation environment it may be beneficial to have a required more in depth psychiatric exam at certain intervals.  Possibly, a second opinion from another doctor to provide another layer of "checks".  The idea is not to make it impossible to get a medical, but also make sure there are no serious underlying issue that a regular medical evaluation would not catch.  If an issue did arise or a pilot feels he has a problem, then he should not be flying.  Although, the FAA could require the airline to hold his position for a certain interval, so he is not fired.  This may provide a time of healing for the depressed pilot and more safety in the industry.  

The biggest issue with a liberalized depression issue is that no airline wants to admit or broadcast that it has depressed pilots in its staff.  The FAA and airlines would have to work together in order to shed a positive light on the situation.  They would have to show the benefits for providing help and continued employment to pilots who are depressed.  On another note airlines aren't going to want to spend money or time on a pilot that can't fly at the moment.  So discussions would have to be settled on this issue as well.  If this plan works though, the skies will be much safer.  

References

Engel, P. & Zhang, B. (2015, March 30). Here's everything we know about the crash of germanwings flight 9525. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/everything-we-know-about-germanwings-flight-9525-2015-3

Wrigley, S. (2014, September 16). Pilot suicides: fact vs fiction. Fear of Landing The Art Of Not Hitting The Ground. Retrieved  from http://fearoflanding.com/accidents/pilot-suicides-fact-vs-fiction/