Medical exam focus following Jetblue pilot rant

US aviation officials are shifting focus to pilots’ medical exams following last week’s Jetblue rant.

Travel Insurance News - 02/04/2012

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Commercial airline pilots are already subjected to a wide range of examinations during annual medical checkups, but pilots and mental health experts say that each pilot’s mental state is overlooked but that most airmen would avoid telling the truth due to the fear of losing their career.

Airline captain and aviation consultant John Gadzinski said to a US newspaper that pilots are very aware that the first moment that you say you’ve had some sort of mental issue that your pilot’s license is going to be taken away.

But despite the recent backlash to examination procedures, statistics show that mental breakdowns among aviation professionals are very rare. Robert Francis of the US National Transportation Safety Board said that of tens of thousands of airline employees only a couple have “lost it” in recent years. He said that this simply wasn’t enough evidence to justify a new set of regulations.

The news comes just a week after 49 year-old Clayton Osbon, a veteran pilot for Jetblue had a major breakdown at 35,000 feet several hours into a flight from JFK airport in New York to Las Vegas.

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