More than 14 Percent of Commercial Pilots suffer from Depression: Says a Survey

There are around 140,000 commercial pilots working worldwide flying more than 3 billion people each year and hence we as passengers, expect a pilot to be mentally and physically healthy.

But unfortunately, 1 in every 8 pilots suffer from depression and some of them even have “suicidal thoughts”, a survey report has revealed.

An anonymous online survey was carried out after the shocking incident of depressed Germanwings Pilot, who crashed his plane carrying more than 150 passengers into the French Alps.

As per as reports, the survey was conducted on around 3,500 pilots and around 14 percent of them were found with symptoms of depression. Around 4 percent were also found with an extreme phase of depression which includes “suicidal thought”.

The online research, which was carried out between April and December of 2015, asked questions related to health and work.

In 3,500, only 1,800 completed the questions related to mental health and among them, 14 percent were reported having depression.

Survey Report has also said that the majority of depression cases recorded from U.S., Canada, and Australia.

Joseph Allen, a health researcher from Harvard University, said “It’s very obvious that why they don’t want to disclose their mental condition, because they may end up with losing their job. After seeing their condition, the airlines would find them unfit for the position and hence fire them”.

“The survey has raised a serious question on how the airlines deal with their pilots”, he added.

Suggesting the companies, he said, “the companies should take a proper care of their pilots”.