Thursday, March 28, 2024

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Attention turns to pilot screening process in Canada

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While investigators look more closely at Andreas Lubitz’s psychological state, attention is now turning to the pilot screening process here in Canada. All Canadian pilots must complete a comprehensive medical exam in order to obtain their pilot’s license, and complete the same exam each year to retain their license. This is a Transport Canada requirement. But that doesn’t include a psychological test. It’s the pilots responsibility to disclose any medical or mental illness that could impair their judgement.

The deliberate crash of Germanwings flight 9525 has regulators and industry leaders looking into the effectiveness of existing protocols. Transport Canada regulates the standards for pilot medical exams.

Dave Rohrer has had his category one medical certificate to fly a commercial passenger plane since 1985. Because he is over 40 he undergoes a medical exam every six months. There’s a lot of medical tests but nothing for psychological testing. “No, not really” says Mr. Rohrer “except the interaction between the examiner and the pilot in a normal discourse. The only real psychological evaluations and testings that I have gone through are when I wanted to be a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot.” That was a five day evaluation process including psychological testing and written exams. Mr. Rohrer says the Germanwings crash is likely to fuel calls for the international civil aviation organization to conduct more in depth background checks and mental health screenings of both new and experienced pilots. “They will be looking at – how do we assess or determine a pilot that has an issue or a problem that could lead to this kind of irrational act – before that happens.”

In Canada, a pilot must tell a doctor that they are a licensed pilot before discussing the nature of the visit – but not all do.

It’s the doctors responsibility to contact civil aviation authorities when a pilots physical or mental state is unstable. Transport Canada sets the minimum standards. Westjet says it doesn’t conduct extra psychological testing, saying in a statement “we rely on the Transport Canada examination.”

Air Canada would only say that “initial pilot hiring includes a behavioural assessment” – but wouldn’t say what that includes. Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings has said it relies on in-depth interviews and extensive aptitude and psychological testing to clear candidates before they can even begin the carrier’s two-year training program. Today Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said he would discuss upgrades to the airline’s pilot training programs with regulators and labour groups.

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