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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 2111.PDF
Fit for flying? The possibility that the cause of a fatal incident in Morocco may have been pilot suicide raises questions about the psychological testing of air crew. BY DAVID LEARMOUNT/LONDON Arecent Moroccan airliner accident which killed 44 people was caused by the cap tain's suicide, the early report says. In the shadow of this event, the European Joint Aviation Authorities QAA) will meet in October to discuss the final draft of a joint aviation regulation QAR) proposing that airline pilots should be subject to psychological reviews to gain and renew a commercial pilot's licence. Given the imprecise nature of psychology and the fact that airline pilots are already among the most rigorously monitored profes sions in the world, this proposal is proving to be a minefield for the regulators. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says that the proposals have gone through six drafts already "...but [the JAA member authorities] now seem to be reaching unanimity". The prospect worries the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations and Europilote, the association of European pilots' unions. The British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA), whose members would be subject to any new rulings, says: "Our medical study group is keeping an eye on it, but in the UK there is no other workforce which is so careful ly monitored. There is no need for [a psycho logical review]." The accident which has the potential to put a match to the tinder in the debate is the Royal Air Maroc ATR 42 crash near Agadir, Morocco, on 21 August, which the Moroccan Government has said was caused by Capt Yunes Khayati's suicidal act. The authorities quote cockpit-voice recorder transcripts as evi dence. The statement says that the captain dis engaged the autopilot and pointed tJie aircraft at the ground. The aircraft began to break up before impact. Europilote's Capt Ted Murphy voices seri ous concern about the purpose and practice of "psychological evaluation". The CAA's stated trigger for an evaluation, says Murphy, would Arguments continue about the basis for early reports of pilot suicide Am SAFETY be when the Aviation Medical Board "...receives information which evokes doubts concerning the aptitudes or personality of an individual". He comments: "This is so loose a set of criteria as to be a charter for abuse, intended or otherwise" Flight International, 6- 12 July, P37). He quotes specific examples of two vague management accusations which led to evaluations. In both reviews, the pilots were cleared, but tarred with the brush of having been reviewed for a "psychological problem". One of the pilots lost his job and cannot get another. Neither pilot was told of the reasons behind the accusations. All the pilots' organisations point out that the existing structure of line and simulator testing and recurrent training is already designed to pick up problems which result in under-performance. Pilots are encouraged by both civil and military employers to seek help if they have problems coping with stresses in their private lives. SAFETY NET As a safety net, however, if a pilot's behaviour changes suddenly, confidential reporting sys tems exist within US, UK and many other unions by which a colleague can report an observed problem so the union can approach the pilot concerned to offer help and advice. The context in which the pilot-testing issue is being studied could be distorted by the Royal Air Maroc accident. If, indeed, suicide is confirmed, it remains relevant that there has never before been an airline crash attributable to pilot suicide. In 1982, a Japan Airlines' McDonnell Douglas DC-8 on approach to Tokyo Narita Airport suffered a fatal accident when the captain's actions were disastrously illogical. He had been treated for a "psychoso matic disorder", according to the report. The fact tfiat he was still flying with this on record opens up a different area of concern. A suicide motive, however, was not proven. Also muddying die waters of deliberation is the fact that two groups of pilots — the col leagues of Capt Khayati and the French pilots's union SNPL - are saying that the suicide the ory is, so far, based on circumstantial evidence. The SNPL's Capt Francois Grangier has called it "a quick answer to the problem". He points out that the crew had reported trouble with the forward cargo door in the aircraft on the previous flight sector (Casablanca-Agadir), and that the cargo-door warning light was known to have illuminated on the crash sector itself (Agadir-Casablanca). He also points to the uncomfortable coincidence of a strike by the Royal Air Maroc ATR 42 pilots nine days before the accident, citing their unhappiness with maintenance standards on the fleet. The JAA's October meeting, therefore, will be considering a regulation which has, statisti cally, little potential to save lives but, ironically, has immense potential to add to the psycho logical pressures on pilots. The effects of that additional pressure on safety would be seen only with time. 3 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 • 13 September 1994
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