A Kinder, Gentler, Machine-Gun Hand

Among its numerous initiatives to better lives, careers, and wellbeing of professional pilots, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has prevailed upon the FAA to ensure aviators faced with medical and mental health issues are able to continue flying—provided doing so remains safe to all concerned parties.

NBAA director of safety and flight operations Mark Larsen stated: “In conversations with our members about this, it’s very clear that folks are really struggling with these issues. They want to feel like they can get help and, and thankfully, we’re in a position to say you can get help and it’s likely not going to be career-ending.”

“Frankly it became undeniable that we needed to be doing something about this,” Larsen set forth, alluding to the myriad calls and emails the NBAA has received from distressed pilots in the post-COVID era. “It just made it clear that we needed to be actively working in this space. And so that’s why we’ve made it a priority to be doing that.”

The FAA, over the past 12-months, has undertaken steps to ease mental health exigencies for pilots—to include naming the antidepressant medication Wellbutrin an agency-approved drug—so states the NBAA.

“We suggested that the FAA take a closer look at it,” Larsen said of the broadly prescribed Norepinephrine and Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor (NDRI), adding: “This is one that people are asking a lot of questions about on pilot forums, as they’re having good results with it.

“It’s progress, right?” Larsen surmised. “If we can do it safely, why would we keep these folks on the ground?”

The FAA contends it will no longer require pilots prescribed Wellbutrin by their healthcare providers to undergo annual neurocognitive reexaminations.

“It used to be that you had to do an initial neurocognitive assessment and then you would have to go repeat that assessment annually as long as you were on the antidepressant,” Larsen rued, pointing out subject tests often cost pilots between $3,000 and $4,000.

 “That’s a lot of money adding up,” Larsen observed. “So that got us thinking: ‘How many of these neurocognitive follow-up exams are telling the patient and the FAA something that they didn’t find out the first time?’” The FAA, at the NBAA’s urging, reviewed the requirement and dropped such in late 2022.

Citing a 2022 study in which researchers reported some 56.1-percent of professional pilots chronically avoided seeking healthcare for fear of being grounded, Larsen posited the practice of saddling anxious, depressed, or otherwise emotionally-challenged pilots with excessive hardships is likely to backfire on government regulators.

“There are some medical and mental health conditions that warrant a further look by the FAA,” Larsen opined, “but by the same token, when pilots are aware of the kind of things that they’re up against in order to get treatment, we’re seeing a lot of hesitancy to then pursue treatment.”

Another improvement to aeromedical convention recently enacted by the FAA is the institution of the practice of permitting aviation medical examiners to upload supporting documentation pertaining to their patients directly to the FAA. Formerly, such information was mailed to the agency’s Oklahoma City headquarters where it typically languished protractedly before being reviewed by FAA medical personnel.

FAA Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Susan Northrup asserts the agency is working to reduce mental health barriers.

Dr. Quay Snyder, president, CEO, and co-founder of Aviation Medicine Advisory Service and a member of the NBAA’s Safety Committee, suggested Northrup “has demonstrated a full commitment to recognizing mental wellness as a critical element of aviation safety and optimizing performance.”

Dr. Snyder added: “Examples include the FAA hiring more psychiatrists and neuropsychologists on their HQ staff to shorten the review times of medical certificate holders’ mental health conditions, adding an additional medication as acceptable to the FAA for certification and considering others.”

Representing upwards of ten-thousand company and individual members, the National Business Aviation Association is a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization founded in 1947 for purpose of fostering an environment conducive to business aviation’s success both in the United States and around the world.

FMI: www.nbaa.org