Breaking the silence
AOPA helps you fly safely and manage your wellbeing
By Katie Pribyl
Not so long ago, the very words “mental health” were taboo in the pilot community. Pilots worked from the assumption, not entirely unfounded, that admitting to any kind of struggle would put an end to their flying days.
Medicated for hyperactivity as a child? Keep it quiet. Having a hard time after the death of a loved one? Shhh. Think you could benefit from a little professional help? Think again.
Not admitting to challenges like these doesn’t make them any less real. According to 2024 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five adults in the United States has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at some point in their lifetime. The statistics are the same for depression. And those are just two common mental health conditions. Is it realistic to imagine that pilots don’t share these experiences? Are we so different from the population at large?
For decades, pilots have avoided seeing doctors, meeting with counselors, and taking needed medications because of potential consequences like being grounded, loss of earnings, expensive medical testing, and devastating stigma. Thankfully, that’s beginning to change.
At AOPA, we’re shining a light on those changes and working to expand them. And we’re offering new resources to help members navigate the intersection of mental health and aviation. In conjunction with May’s national Mental Health Awareness Month, we are launching our own AOPA Mental Health Campaign, with content and resources to help members.
From the AOPA Air Safety Institute, look for two new installments in the Expert Insights video series covering topics such as maximizing your mental performance and how mental health influences aeronautical decision making. You’ll also find a new mental health safety resource center on our website where articles, videos, and other related materials are aggregated in one place. And we’re debuting a new elective module on mental health as part of our flight instructor refresher course.
Our magazines and newsletters will have special content, as will our What’s Up!? webinar. Follow us on social media for more themed stories and check out our videos featuring interviews with FAA experts and mental health activists.
Our government affairs team works on your behalf in Washington D.C., continuing to push for changes that will make getting mental health services both more accessible and more acceptable for pilots. These changes won’t come overnight, but AOPA is in it for the long haul. We served on the FAA’s 2024 Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Rulemaking Committee that helped shape 24 key recommendations for removing barriers to mental health care for pilots and air traffic controllers. This includes giving pilots a non-punitive pathway for disclosing mental health conditions and treatments, as well as changes to the FAA’s requirements around reporting things like talk therapy and evaluating conditions like depression, anxiety, ADHD, and PTSD.
Since those recommendations were made, the FAA has released new guidance to aviation medical examiners, giving them more latitude to issue medicals to some applicants with uncomplicated anxiety or depression who haven’t taken medication in the past two years. It has also expanded the number of allowable medications used to treat some mental health conditions. AOPA led an aviation coalition to establish the Aviation Medical Advisory Group in the 2024 FAA reauthorization legislation. This advisory group, on which AOPA serves along with medical professionals and others, seeks to assist the FAA in modernizing the medical certification process and address pilot mental health by updating regulations to encourage pilots to seek mental health care and reduce stigma.
In September, the House of Representatives passed the Mental Health in Aviation Act. The bipartisan bill directs the FAA to do more to support pilots and controllers who seek mental health treatment, in part by implementing the recommendations from the 2024 rulemaking committee. A bipartisan companion bill was introduced in the Senate; it recently passed the Senate Commerce Committee.
Our medical team is in the trenches with members who have questions or may be dealing with certification issues related to mental health. We receive hundreds of calls each month from members who need help with everything from understanding allowable medications to understanding FAA reporting and testing requirements. As your partner in all things aviation, AOPA is committed to making sure you have the tools, resources, and support you need to fly through the ups and downs of life. 
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