Pilots keep depression and suicidal thoughts under 'veil of secrecy'

Depression and suicidal thoughts among the world's airline pilots are being hidden behind a "veil of secrecy", according to new research.

An anonymous survey of 1,848 pilots from more than 50 countries suggests that 12.6% meet the criteria for clinical depression.

At some point in the preceding fortnight, 75 pilots said they had experienced suicidal thoughts.

Ten male pilots surveyed said they had thoughts of self-harm "nearly every day", or felt they would be better off dead.

Additionally, 34 men had feelings of failure and had frequent difficulty concentrating while in the cockpit.

Researchers at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health said many pilots with depressive symptoms may not be seeking treatment because it could have a negative impact on their career.

Suicide is believed to have been behind a co-pilot's deliberate decision to crash a Germanwings aircraft into the French Alps in March last year , killing all 150 passengers and crew on board.

Andreas Lubitz had locked the captain out of the cockpit, and an investigation later determined he had suffered from severe depression.

The 27-year-old had seen 41 doctors over five years, and some of them believed he was suffering "psychosis" and was not fit to fly.

However, medical privacy rules meant his employers could not be informed.

Airline pilot Chris McGee told Sky News that pilots are seen by a doctor every six months.

"Most pilots, across the space of their career, have one medical examiner," she said.

"They develop a baseline as to what your personality is like. They are trained to assess you, they know if you're a little bit off, and that environment is a safe place to talk."

Dr Rob Hunter, head of flight safety at the British Airline Pilots' Association, said: "In general, pilots have very good physical and mental health.

"But, as in all walks of life, some pilots suffer from depression and other mental health issues and the problem applies across many, if not all, safety-critical occupations."

There are calls for the airline industry to remove the stigma attached to mental health, in the hope it will remove the fear from discussing or reporting depression.

The president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Professor Sir Simon Wessely, said: "When pilots recover from depression - and people can recover - they are fully able to return to work and should be allowed to do so whilst continuing to be monitored.

"Incidents such as the Germanwings air crash are extremely rare and it is still unclear if this tragedy was related to depression."