VILenin [he/him]

Yes it’s me, Vladimir Lenin. :i-was-sayingI-was-saying

  • 142 Posts
  • 2.64K Comments
Joined 4 years ago
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Cake day: July 29th, 2020

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  • CW self harm

    Of course I know him, he’s me!

    If you disclose any mental health conditions at all, be prepared for a years-long slog where you repeatedly beg the FAA to let you fly and hope they relent. They will make you spend tens of thousands out of pocket on a specialized doctor and specialized tests to prove that you are mentally competent. They will ask you to take these tests. You will give them the results. They will ask you to take more tests. You will give them the results. They will ask you to see this doctor and get a letter. You will send them that letter. They will ask you to see that doctor and get a letter. You will send them that letter. All of this is supposedly done through a specialized Aviation Medical Examiner with training in mental health conditions. You will be stuck in a cycle of “further evaluation required” until the FAA decides they’ve had enough fun torturing you.

    If you have ADHD, you cannot fly. Period, end of story. If you’ve ever had suicidal ideation, you cannot fly. Period, end of story. If you have attempted suicide, you are done for life. They will tell you otherwise but in practice you are never going to get anywhere. If you “only” have “simple” depression, you may now engage in talk therapy so long as you are not ever diagnosed officially with any mental health condition. Your insurance will not cover your appointments if you are not diagnosed with some form of mental health condition. There are about 3 antidepressants you are allowed to take, and you are required to undergo extensive evaluation after a six-month period on the same dosage. And you will spend thousands of dollars of your own money.

    Who would disclose their mental health conditions under these circumstances? Of course, you are free to drown yourself in alcohol, they don’t care about that.

    99% of people with any mental health condition hide it. It isn’t worth it. Technically it’s a felony but they have no way of finding you out without a court order, and the only circumstance in which they would get one likely also involves you being dead, in which case you probably don’t care too much about prison time.

    It’s literally killing people. You are not allowed to get help. What if you like to fly and that is a form of therapy for you? People have committed suicide because the FAA has barred them from flying. And if it doesn’t kill you it fucks you up.

    I learned my lesson after being forced to undergo months of continuous evaluation after disclosing a generic “chest pain”, I sure as hell am not telling them anything about my mental health.

    It is extremely common. I know this from personal experience with colleagues. Honesty is career suicide, why would you do it? Maybe 10% are entirely honest with the FAA.

    Lie because you like to fly, and keep lying because you don’t want to lose your job. I can tell you it’s hell to keep a fundamental part of yourself a closely guarded secret because the FAA expects you to be an unthinking robot with no feelings and perfect health.

    Last I checked, the FAA was citing Freud in their psychology section in the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook. That’s all you really need to know about their stance on mental health.



  • Compressor stalls aren’t exactly unheard of lol, sometimes engines do that but aside from all the dramatic flare it’s mostly a non-event and far from life-threatening. In the grand scheme of things and in comparison with other emergencies it happens all the time. Media making this sound like an almost-died incident is just peak aviation illiteracy. As with United Airlines, it’s probably because they’re using old ass planes. A lot of things can cause a compressor stall, it might not even be the engine shrug-outta-hecks Plenty of actual Boeing fuckups to go around.

    And I’m not exactly a Boeing fan. Janky ass airplanes cartel ass company. But this almost certainly has nothing to do with them.

    Source: I drive airplane (including the 747 before my airline retired it)