[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

. Now coming to your question about the salary, I think, it should not matter when they are on Plane. With so many things to do, they will have to give 100 % though somewhere in their back of the mind, there will be stretch on what happens next.
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Unfortunately, that is not the case at all. A lot of people think so, keep busy and it won’t matter. But all research shows that a stress full situation impacts your thinking no matter what, both in your personal as well as in your professional life.

For some, working might actually provide relief, although you need to be very careful about this.

Of course, what any individual experience as stress, especially too much, is unique to each individual. Typical high stress factors for most are:

- Death of a child, partner, parents, siblings
- Divorce
- Moving home
- Financial situation

KLM has recognised this for their own pilots a long time ago. Pilots are encouraged to share their personal situation if they feel stressed. KLM will try and support, but if necessary will de-roster pilots. In such situations pilots can also opt to ask for de-rostering. It won’t impact their salary, career or anything. It is a very well thought out and established safety procedure. So it is also not a one size fits all approach.

Remember the worst aviation accident in history, the KLM/ Panam Teneriffe accident in 1977. You won’t find it in any accident report. Nobody looked for these things. More than a decade later it became publicly known that the KLM captain had a very pressing family problem. KLM knew but did not act. Nobody did at that time.

Since Tenerife KLM has been at the foreground of developing policies and such to deal with this.

At the time our neighbour was one of KLM’s most senior and experienced captains. His wife, more or less overnight developed some very serious mental problems and had to be institutionalised. He informed KLM from early on. From there on they provided support, ensured that he was mentally fit to fly. He was a hardcore pilot. All he ever wanted to do and being allowed to fly, even with the problem with his wife, was for him important. It also allowed him to be away from his family problems.

To date, more incident and accidents happens on the home bound leg (i.e. pilots flying home) then the outbound leg (pilots flying away from home). Subconsciously, pilots want to go home. If there are problems at home, that sub conscience feeling is likely to cause more prominent impact.

So don’t think some of these pilots would not be affected. Some won’t, some will. What is done to recognise the ones you should consider de-rostering or offering some sort of support. With a company that is stretch financially I assume nothing gets done. They will actually try to press anybody to work/fly.

It is was one of the (may) aspects of criticism many aviation experts have on the Ryan air - pilot employment model. Essentially, they are self employed and need to fly to generate income. What formal/informal barriers are there to stop a pilot entering the cockpit who is stressed out to the max because his/her partner is filing for divorce, wants custody of the kids and most of his future income?

Pilots, by law, are required to ensure they are fit to fly. There are some regular medical test, but they deal primarily with physical fitness. psychological fitness is much more difficult to recognise by yourself or others.

Jeroen