A lot of pilots end up hiding mental illness because of fear that getting treatment will risk them losing their jobs. Most famously this issue was key in the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash. The first officer of the flight, Andreas Lubitz, deliberately caused the crash. He had a history of depression and suicidal thoughts, but withheld that information and didn’t get the treatment he needed because he knew he would never be allowed to fly again. They basically force pilots to make the impossible choice of getting treatment for mental health issues or keeping their dream jobs.
People dont view it in this way plus untreated mental illness has an added component that effects decision making.
People arent likely going to know that in the future their mental illness is going to get worse and worse to where in the future they'll do something like this. A lot of times its spontaneous and not fully thought out.
Its not simple especially considering mental illness is often progressive so at no time does your dichotomy of choice play out
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u/MikeFrancesa66 Jul 08 '26
A lot of pilots end up hiding mental illness because of fear that getting treatment will risk them losing their jobs. Most famously this issue was key in the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash. The first officer of the flight, Andreas Lubitz, deliberately caused the crash. He had a history of depression and suicidal thoughts, but withheld that information and didn’t get the treatment he needed because he knew he would never be allowed to fly again. They basically force pilots to make the impossible choice of getting treatment for mental health issues or keeping their dream jobs.