Black Swan Pandemic and the Risk of Pilot Suicide

Vuorio, Alpo; Bor, Robert

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.573006

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Forty to sixty percent (40-60%) of pilots reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had worsened their mental health; and experts feared that the pandemic could increase the risk for pilot suicide. [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] . In one survey during the COVID-19 pandemic, 10% of responding professional pilots reported suicidal thoughts in the prior two weeks.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health implications for aviators from COVID-19

Flynn

King²,

Bor³

et al. 2022

REACH

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health implications for aviators from COVID-19

Flynn

King²,

Bor³

et al. 2022

REACH

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“…At the time of the study, the global pandemic had wide-reaching impact and caused particular stress within the aviation industry ( Görlich and Stadelmann, 2020 ; Vuorio and Bor, 2020 ). Unsurprisingly, the most commonly endorsed stressor on the SRSS in the current study was work-related changes (hours or conditions), followed by financial changes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the outset of the pandemic, Vuorio and Bor (2020) predicted that pilot mental illness and suicides would potentially see an increase as a direct result of COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the economic effects. They suggested that given life-event stress is a particular risk to pilot mental health and pilot suicidality, that the experience of severe life-events during this time should be taken as an indicator of increased risk, along with distress, depression, and reports of hopelessness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: prevalence rates from semi-structured interviews, and associated vulnerability and protective factors

2023

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IntroductionPilots are a unique occupational group who perform a specialised job and face significant stressors. Pilot mental health has received increased attention since Germanwings Flight 9525; however, this research has largely focused on general anxiety, depression, and suicide and relied on a questionnaire-based methodology. This approach is likely to miss various mental health issues that may affect pilot wellbeing, leaving the prevalence of mental health issues in aviation unclear. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a particular impact on the mental health and wellbeing of pilots, who experienced the devastating effect of COVID-19 on the industry.MethodIn the present study, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of 73 commercial pilots during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the DIAMOND semi-structured diagnostic interview and explored possible associated vulnerability and protective factors, including life event stressors, personality, passion, lifestyle factors, and coping strategies.ResultsThe COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on aviation during the time of this study, affecting 95% of participants. The diagnostic results revealed over one third of pilots had symptoms of a diagnoseable mental health disorder. Anxiety disorders were the most commonly found disorders, followed by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Adjustment Disorder, and Depressive Disorders. Pilots’ high life event scores placed them at an increased risk for the development of stress-related illness, though did not explain which pilots had mental health difficulties in this study. Regression analysis supported a diathesis-stress model for pilot mental health, with disagreeableness and obsessive passion contributing to pilots’ development of mental health issues, and nutrition as the most important protective factor.DiscussionThis study, though limited to the COVID-19 pandemic, provides a valuable precedent for a more thorough assessment of pilot mental health, and contributes to the broader understanding of pilot mental health, including suggestions to target factors associated with the development of mental health issues.

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“…Moreover, as the data was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic during which many pilots were furloughed or demoted to junior ranks (39), the present data on rank and qualification may not be truly representative and any future research will require further data collection. Similarly, as job demands and workload have changed throughout the pandemic (40), the influence of flight experience levels may have also been affected. In the future, it will be interesting to conduct multi-level analysis to segregate the effects of the various demographic variables.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of effective human factors interventions for aviation safety management

Chan

2023

Front. Public Health

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IntroductionIn the aviation industry, safety management has moved away from capturing frontline failures toward the management of systemic conditions through organizational safety management systems (SMS). However, subjective differences can influence the classification of active failures and their associated systemic precursors. With levels of professional experience known to influence safety attitudes, the present research examines whether experience levels among airline pilots had an impact on the classification of causal factors using the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS). Differences in the paths of association between categories were evaluated in an open-system context.MethodPilots working in a large, international airline were categorized into high (≥10,000 total flight hours) and low (<10,000 h) experience groups and asked to classify aircraft accident causal factors using the HFACS framework. One-way ANOVA tests were carried out to determine experience effects on the utilization of the HFACS categories, and chi-squared analyses were used to assess the strength of association between different categories within the framework.ResultsResults from 144 valid responses revealed differences in the attribution of human factors conditions. The high experience group was more inclined to attribute deficiencies to high-level precursors and found fewer paths of associations between different categories. In contrast, the low experience group presented a greater number of associations and was comparatively more affected by stress and uncertainty conditions.DiscussionThe results confirm that the classification of safety factors can be influenced by professional experience, with hierarchical power distance impacting the attribution of failures to higher-level organizational faults. Different paths of association between the two groups also suggest that safety interventions can be targeted through different entry points. Where multiple latent conditions are associated, the selection of safety interventions should be made with consideration of the concerns, influences, and actions across the entire system. Higher-level anthropological interventions can change the interactive interfaces affecting concerns, influences, and actions across all levels, whereas frontline-level functional interventions are more efficient for failures linked to many precursor categories.

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Black Swan Pandemic and the Risk of Pilot Suicide

Cited by 9 publications

References 16 publications

Mental health implications for aviators from COVID-19

Mental health implications for aviators from COVID-19

Pilot mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: prevalence rates from semi-structured interviews, and associated vulnerability and protective factors

Development of effective human factors interventions for aviation safety management

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