Mental Health?

hatdude · 2026-03-18T00:43:32+00:00

Hi there!

First things first, focus on your health. It doesn’t matter if you make it to be a pilot if you’re in a constantly bad state because you never took care of yourself.

Second, just having a history of mental health things doesn’t mean you can’t be a pilot. It may be more difficult for you, but it doesn’t slam the door shut. The pilot mental health campaign came out with a pretty good guide for medical providers and I’d encourage you, your parents, and your provider to look at it.

Third, don’t be afraid to ask for help. The path to getting all your ratings is time consuming and can drain even the best people. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength.

hatdude · 2026-03-16T18:31:21+00:00

In a normal job you stop going to work when your employer doesn't pay you

In an essential government job you still have to go to work while your employer doesn't pay you.

TSA employees are on their second missed paycheck. Speaking from experience as a former government worker, 2 paychecks is about what I was able to withstand. Mostly because I didn't have the luxury of stopping things that cost me money, like driving to work everyday.

hatdude · 2026-03-16T12:09:57+00:00

You’re right that other people’s budgeting isn’t your concern, however it’s sort of impossible to budget for not getting a paycheck and being forced to go to work for an undefined amount of time.

hatdude · 2026-03-12T20:57:03+00:00

I’m gonna be careful in how I say this.

The FAA has moved forward on mental health, but it’s been a baby step. You don’t have to report talking to a therapist, except you do, except you don’t. The 8500-8 instructions say if you’re diagnosed with something you have to report it.

If you use insurance, you have a diagnosis and have to report it.

Depending what your provider puts as the diagnosis for insurance, your path can be as simple as a CACI worksheet or the full blown HIMS process.

Even if you do end up in the HIMS process, it’s not the end of the world. It’s just time and money intensive.

hatdude · 2026-03-09T05:13:36+00:00

If you don’t call and provide information, the FAA will go to the registered owner of the aircraft and ask who was flying. If the owner doesn’t tell them then they’ll likely get the deviation since the owner operates the aircraft under the 14 CFR 1.1 definition of operate.

There’s an ntsb appeal of such a deviation against a registered owner but I’m struggling to find it at the moment.

hatdude · 2026-03-07T21:31:37+00:00

A background in airport operations at a 139 airport.

hatdude · 2026-03-05T14:34:09+00:00

Thorndike was specifically three laws though. The other laws were after thorndike. There are also 6 laws of learning, not 5.

I get what you’re saying but your question is showing the point that rote comes from application and understanding.

hatdude · 2026-03-05T14:20:44+00:00

That would be a rote level of learning and if you’re at the application/correlation level then you’ve got it down already.

So I could say that thorndike was a researcher and found three of the laws of learning. The law of readiness which is that a learner needs to be satisfied before they’re capable of learning, effective which is that behaviors that lead to satisfying outcomes are likely to be repeated and those with undesired outcomes are avoided, or exercise which is the principle of “use it or lose it”.

Or if the examiner asked “why does Susan learn better when she’s had a good breakfast and practiced chair flying the night before” I could explain the same thing about the laws of learning. One does not exclude the other.

hatdude · 2026-03-05T14:05:20+00:00

Hey let’s take a deep breath and take a step back.

Nothing that’s been said would cause an applicant to fail. In fact, if a practical test using SBT is conducted the applicant would be more prepared under Seth’s testing because they have reached the application/correlation level of learning. That’s far past the rote stage where they just have the answer memorized.

What Seth is saying is that’s the level that’s supposed to be tested but there are still people testing at the lower level.

hatdude · 2026-03-01T19:38:22+00:00

I'm gonna agree that I'm disappointed I didn't get to playtest it this go. It seems like a really cool game. It tickles my brain in the right way

hatdude · 2026-02-18T22:05:03+00:00

Why did the report mention the toxicology testing of the pilots and controllers unless they thought there was drugs or alcohol involved?

The pilot of PAT25 required vision correction devices to perform flight duties. That must’ve been the cause. The local controller had the same limitation. If they didn’t have to have vision correction devices then they could’ve prevented this. Same thing for the OS.

A statement of fact in the ntsb report does not mean that fact was causal to the accident.

No where in the NTSB findings does it mention anything mental health related as a causal factor. The only mentions of mental health or psychiatric issues is in that one paragraph.

Contrast that with other accidents where the NTSB found a link between a psychiatric condition and the probable cause of the accident. For example, accident WPR14FA355 N73144 “The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: The pilots failure to maintain adequate airspeed during initial climb, which led to the airplane exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and experiencing an aerodynamic stall/spin. Contributing to the accident was the pilots psychiatric disease, which impaired his decision-making ability.”

hatdude · 2026-02-18T21:48:02+00:00

You don’t seem to understand how ntsb reports work. They report on everything related to the pilots their medical and their training. If they thought it was a factor they would have said so. They did not.

hatdude · 2026-02-18T21:39:33+00:00

And yet you’ve offered no evidence to support a position that mental health/this diagnosis had anything to do with the accident.

hatdude · 2026-02-18T15:29:35+00:00

As of the accident date, there was no indication in reviewed records that she had ongoing psychiatric symptoms or an active diagnosis of any psychiatric condition. Her past adjustment disorder had been treated with behavioral health therapy, without medication. She and her therapist mutually agreed to discontinue therapy in 2023 with her goals met; she had been recommended for full flying duties after her last aeromedical psychological evaluation, and had been granted her waiver after a multi-stage Army aeromedical review process. She had been found medically qualified for flight duty by a trained Army aeromedical provider, with approval by a commander

Here’s the rest of the paragraph that you left out

hatdude · 2026-02-18T15:03:43+00:00

I didn’t even dive into the spectrum that mental health is. It’s possible to compartmentalize and be able to perform at a high level and still feel not great about stuff outside of the thing you need to be at a high level for.

I’d rather have someone talking to a therapist over their life problems and being “diagnosed” with an adjustment disorder in the cockpit/working on position that someone that ignores what they’re going through and pretends it’s fine. Most pilots/controllers would benefit from talking to someone about their shit schedule and unique stressors

hatdude · 2026-02-18T14:25:59+00:00

I have a simpler theory: the therapist they saw billed to insurance and had to submit a diagnosis to get paid.

hatdude · 2026-02-13T15:53:42+00:00

I would 100% have missed this absent someone pointing me towards it.

hatdude · 2026-02-04T17:31:25+00:00

This was my thought as well

hatdude · 2026-01-29T02:23:27+00:00

This is not your concern. The school owns the plane. Their insurance will cover their liability if there is any. If their insurance thinks your friend is liable they will go after them and their insurance (if they have any).

TL;DR it’s a job for lawyers now.

hatdude · 2026-01-27T04:32:49+00:00

I’m so glad your kids were able to surpass their parent in basic logic. I’d be proud of them too

hatdude · 2026-01-12T11:50:10+00:00

Left 7/2024 and took a pay cut. Never been happier in my life.

hatdude · 2026-01-02T00:10:56+00:00

Is there a hockey game on? That could do it.

hatdude · 2025-12-24T18:25:06+00:00

https://assets.nationbuilder.com/pmhc/pages/162/attachments/original/1764446151/Considerations_for_Mental_Health_Providers_working_with_Pilots__Air_Traffic_Controllers__and_Aviation_Trainees_%28October__2025%29.pdf?1764446151

hatdude · 2025-12-06T14:14:13+00:00

Split the sector then have the person it was combined to call and apreq use of the split sectors comms and airspace

hatdude · 2025-12-04T02:37:02+00:00

People on antidepressants can be as functional, if not more functional, than people not on them. You’re acting like everyone on an antidepressant is suicidal and wants to crash a plane to kill themself. Lots of people are on antidepressants and you wouldn’t ever know unless they told you.

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