Analyzing Commercial Pilots

From the first flight by the Wright Brothers, the aviation industry has always been one to constantly search for innovation to make flying safer and more efficient. A number of different implementation have been put in place to aid the pilot and make their job easier, ranging from glass cockpit to auto landing capabilities. Before the idea of using automation in the cockpit, aviators had to rely on paper charts and flight calculators in order to traverse through the skies. This process also kept pilots in check, so to speak. Pilots had to constantly check and recheck to ensure the aircraft was operating as expected and that they were on course. As the years progressed, so did the technology, there is always room to implement new technology

This is a serious threat to all passengers because the pilot has full control of the aircraft and the lives of all passengers and crewmembers lie in the hands of the pilot and first officer. A 2014 study from the journal of Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine stated, “From 1993 – 2012, 24 of 7,244 plane crashes were thought to be deliberately caused by a pilot” (Park & Oaklander, 2015). The current system to evaluate commercial pilots in order to be certified to fly a passenger plane includes passing a physical and a mental evaluation every six months for pilots over the age of 40 and once a year for pilots under the age of 40. Although mental health is harder to evaluate so the emphasis of these evaluations rely mostly on the physical aspects and less on the mental. When pilots are asked the yes or no questions during the mental evaluation it is up to the pilot to answer truthfully or not. Some of these questions often refer to attempted suicide or visits to a psychiatrist. For obvious reasons, pilots are not likely to divulge any potential mental health problems because that would ground them. I believe to avoid the risk of suicide or homicide pilots a polygraph test should be conducted during the mental evaluation to ensure the honesty of each pilot. This could potentially discourage pilots who are experiencing

The advances in todays technology are making it less necessary than ever for human pilots to be in the cockpit. The 21st century is a very interesting time for the aviation industry with all the new advances in technology. A robotically controlled system with the ability to remotely pilot the aircraft from the ground could possibly eliminate human pilots from committing suicide by aircraft. Although, adding more technology could also add more mechanical problems. Moving to more autonomous aircraft and air traffic control systems has the potential to save an immense amount of money. Despite the cost saving capabilities, there is still a debate on whether or not passengers would ever set foot in an aircraft piloted only by robots or humans thousands of miles away from the cockpit safely on the ground. I believe that we will never stray away from having a human pilot on board of commercial aircraft. “A pilot on board an aircraft can see, feel, smell or hear many indications of an impending problem and begin to formulate a course of action before even sophisticated sensors and indicators provide positive indications of trouble” (Markoff, 2015). I believe that the increasing of sophisticated aircraft will not always mean safer aircraft. With the advancements in technology, we must constantly remind