Mental Health Requirements for Active Pilots

IFALPA considers that an extensive psychological/psychiatric evaluation, as part of the routine pilot aeromedical assessment, is neither productive nor cost effective and therefore not warranted.

Serious mental health illnesses are relatively rare among pilots and the onset of such illness is impossible to predict.

Routine psychological/psychiatric evaluation is a gross invasion of privacy and may impose more stress, threat and anxiety on the individual. Not all tests are culturally valid and screening tools are unreliable. Mental health assessment will only create the illusion of safety enhancement.