Germany Plane Crash is Probably NOT The Pilot's Fault.

Issues with plane crashes and disappearances are becoming more and more familiar to people today. One of the most recent plane incidents was the Germanwings Crash on March 24, 2015. The pilot was 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz who was at the controls and crashed the plane, killing 150 people.

When I first heard of this, I thought it was terrorism. Who else could do such a thing? Then this article came out, revealing that the pilot had a history of depression. In 2009, Lubitz took several months off to deal with his depression. After coming back and reporting to be “healthy”, he was given his pilot’s license by Lufthansa Flight School.

Here’s the catch: the pilot is no longer required to report medical issues now that he is a licensed pilot. All health problems he has that could hinder his ability to work must be self-reported.

There is evidence of ripped up sick notes of an illness that would have prevented him from flying. He did not have one the day of the crash.

This leads me to believe that Lubitz was planning to commit suicide via a plane crash. Why?

First, he has a clear history of depression. Depression does not go away in a several months unless by some miracle it’s just gone the next day. Sure, one can take pills and medications to put away the depression, but what good does that do in healing the underlying sickness? Professional therapy is needed to help an ill person back into a health state of mind.

Second, even though there is no current evidence on whether he was still facing depression after 2009, one thing leads me to believe he did. While I could not find a statistic about this, I know that many people are ashamed of their depression. They feel like that it’s just another weakness of theirs. Since they’re ashamed of it, why report it? Who would willingly report something they’re ashamed of?

I am very saddened by this crash, for both the killed people and the pilot. The people should not have been involved in this seeming-to-be suicide and the pilot should not have been so loosely handled by his work.

I defend the pilot for these reasons: he has a history of depression and mental illness is getting a bad name because of this crash. I know that there are people out there who think that people with mental illness are still able to function properly in the workplace and that this pilot is still at fault. That mental illness is something that can be controlled and handled without any problem.

NO!

Mental illness inhibits the sick person’s ability to think properly. They lose a lot of rational thought and ability to think properly and cave into their illness’s effects. If this pilot still had depression, he is not totally at fault for this! Lubitz’s work should have done follow up checks on him; they should have made sure that this pilot is still stable and healthy. They should do this for all pilots! All flight agencies should do regularly mandated health checks!

This is the one thing I want you to take away from this blog post. Mentally ill workers and people are not at fault for the things they do. They are driven by their illnesses, against their free will and rational thought, to do things and actions that feel right to them. Sometimes these things that they do seem like their only way out to them.

It’s time we as a society stop treating mental illness like it’s something to be dealt with on our own. It’s time we help others feel comfortable talking about it openly to receive help. People with mental illness are still people. We must do something to make these people feel like they’re still worth their lives, because they are.

Let’s not isolate ourselves any longer to mental health issues. Instead, let’s talk about them.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/31/us-france-crash-pilot-idUSKBN0MR1EJ20150331