Aviation’s Approach Towards Pilots’ Mental Health: a Review

Abstract

Aviation safety is and always will be a primary priority. Technological advancements, improved pilot training, and improved procedures have all played a significant role in this regard over the years. According to several studies, human factors currently account for over 70% of all accidents. As a result, in order to improve aviation safety, the focus should be on the variables that contribute to those errors, with mental health being one of the most critical. Fatigue, stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout are all connected with poor mental health in aviation. This paper presents a systematic review of articles on pilots’ mental health, together with an anonymous survey to 182 pilots focused on understanding how pilots, airlines and aviation organizations handle pilots’ mental health. According to the survey, pilots bear most of the responsibility and are the ones who experience the consequences if their mental health declines. Additionally, it seems that pilots do not view therapy as a viable choice; even though the majority of respondents said they would turn to therapy if they felt the need, many believed that doing so would worsen their mental health. From both the literature review and the survey results, it is concluded that the complex and subjective nature of mental health imply that this is not a job for any single organization, but that a collective work across all the aviation industry is needed, for which all must be responsible.