I've always wondered about the mental health of an airline pilot as I board an airplane:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/31/jetblue-crew-will-stay-quiet-about-las-vegas-incident/

I wonder if the pilot was a minority, if the charges would be more severe...

3/31/2012 9:40:51 PM

Insufficient working hours to pay the bills(they don't get paid for sitting on the tarmac). High stress from an overloaded system. Long times away from family in lonely cities.

Nah, they're fine.

http://articles.philly.com/1994-04-08/news/25862964_1_spear-gun-auburn-calloway-crew-members

3/31/2012 9:51:58 PM

Quote :

"Insufficient working hours to pay the bills"

pilots make plenty of money. that is stupid.

3/31/2012 9:57:33 PM

^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RayMaswju1A

a major reason to avoid regional airlines

3/31/2012 10:05:37 PM

what that jetblue pilot needed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbUBMklQSVU&feature=g-music&context=G2833c24YMAAAAAAALAA

3/31/2012 10:27:31 PM

this shit is older than the internet. (well, not really, but it's old)

3/31/2012 10:44:15 PM

Things:

Regional pilots don't make shit. (caveat: 'til Captain)

JetBlue isn't a regional. That guy clears over $130k a year, easy.

The FedEx guy was about to lose his job and had taken out some insurance policy for his family, with the intention of taking the plane down (if I remember correctly). Not an excuse for his instability, but definitely a contributing factor. The time away from family part is pure speculation.

3/31/2012 11:45:31 PM

you never hear about this shit in the Air Force and I don't think those pilots get paid that much on average...

4/1/2012 12:05:23 AM

On average, they're paid fairly well. Their entry pay is higher than the regionals, for sure.

Also, that FedEx incident was in 1994. The JetBlue one was in 2012. I'm hard-pressed to think of another similar event between that time frame, although I'm sure there must have been something.

No one was killed in either event. (luckily)

There's (usually) no civilian passengers on military aircraft. If something similar were to happen, that didn't cause any casualties (like the two aforementioned situations), why would the public find out about it? You don't think there have been cases of PTSD in military pilots?

I'm not really following whatever you're getting at.

4/1/2012 12:14:57 AM

^actually, unfortunately, this regional airline flight didn't end so safely: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colgan_Air_Flight_3407

Other events have occurred: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/30/jetblue-pilot-breakdown-mental-health

I'd rather fly with the Air Force any day, 'cause I'm sure they handle stress much better:

4/1/2012 12:33:48 AM