Germanwings

[HarmanKardon]

The organization of the German pilots is against the planned amendment of the medical secrecy law.

Okay - you are a pilot. You got mental problems (depression etc) and you go to the doctor. The doctor gives you a treatment (fine) and reports your Superiors and they take your flight licence away (not so fine). So you better keep your mental problems secret, and the mental problems not treated.

There is no solution for the problem. The only thing is to accept that aviation will always bear a residual risk.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by HarmanKardon

The organization of the German pilots is against the planned amendment of the medical secrecy law.

Okay - you are a pilot. You got mental problems (depression etc) and you go to the doctor. The doctor gives you a treatment (fine) and reports your Superiors and they take your flight licence away (not so fine). So you better keep your mental problems secret, and the mental problems not treated.

There is no solution for the problem. The only thing is to accept that aviation will always bear a residual risk.

Well sure...but it's not just a problem for the public at large with airline pilots. While I worked on a hospital psych unit (back in 1993) there were several cases...all older guys...who were admitted and ultimately diagnosed with a DSM disorder (typically depression or anxiety), and identified to be "..a risk for harm to self or others." Not happy when they found out that this invalidated their gun licenses and that they had to get rid of them. With one guy...an ex-cop in his mid 70's, it got pretty ugly on the unit. He trashed his room and became pretty impossible to manage for a while. Which, I suppose, suggested that getting the guns away from him was probably appropriate. I'm fairly certain Illinois law is the same for conditions like Alzheimer's and other dementia.

So there are plenty of gun owners out there (pilots, cab drivers, corporate executives, doctors) who would qualify as being disturbed enough to have their guns taken away, but smart enough and still in control enough to keep it from happening. Pretty scary indeed.

[HarmanKardon]

Always stoned: School bus driver Otto!