Tragic connection between doomed jets: How Air India, MH370 and Germanwings disasters all sparked fears their captains suffered mental health issues - as experts warn not enough is done to help pilots

Daily Mail​

16 hours ago

Investigators probing the crash of Air India Flight 171 have turned their attention to the pilot's medical history amid fears he may have been suffering from mental health issues at the time of the disaster.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, an experienced pilot with more than 15,000 hours flying time, was piloting the Boeing 787 Dreamliner when it plummeted into a residential area in Ahmedabad, killing all but one of the 242 people on board.
Switches controlling the fuel flow to the jet's two engines were turned off shortly after take off, a preliminary report released by the Indian authorities has indicated, resulting in a catastrophic loss of power and the aircraft crashing to the ground.
The investigation by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), claimed that one pilot asked the other why he cut off the fuel, and the second pilot responded that he had not.
The report, coupled with claims that Captain Sabharwal had taken bereavement leave and was suffering with depression following his mother's death, has raised questions over whether enough is being done to assess and safeguard pilots' mental health.
Air India's CEO has warned that the investigation into what happened is still far from over, telling staff in an internal memo today that it is unwise to jump to any conclusions.
The AAIB said the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out, but also did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the June 12 disaster.
While the exact cause of the crash is likely to remain unknown for some time, the aviation world is tragically no stranger to man-made catastrophes.
These include those triggered by mental health crises - with experts warning that not enough is being done to support pilots and other aviation professionals.
Horrifying video showed the moment the Air India jet crashed into a medical college in Ahmedabad on June 12
If included as a category in worldwide air-crash statistics, pilot murder-suicides would be the second biggest cause of fatalities in Western-built aircraft since 2012, data compiled by Bloomberg found in 2022.
The most notorious crash attributed to pilot suicide, the 2015 Germanwings disaster, saw 150 passengers killed when their plane crashed into a French mountain.
Investigators revealed in the days after the crash that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had locked the flight's captain out of the cockpit to deliberately set the plane on a collision course with a mountainside.
It emerged that Lubitz had suffered from depression in the past, but was later deemed fit to fly. He had searched online for ways to end his life, before researching the security of cockpit doors.
As prosecutors dug deeper into what had happened, they found that the pilot had suffered from a 'severe' depressive episode before being hired - something the airline was not informed of.
Just weeks before the crash, a psychiatrist diagnosed a psychosomatic disorder and possible psychosis, but Lubitz hid his sick notes.
Prosecutors believed he became 'virtually obsessed' with an 'unfounded' fear of losing his vision - a condition that would surely end his career as a pilot.
The findings led investigators to conclude that Lubitz had deliberately cast the plane down into the mountains in a deliberate attempt to end his own life.
Aviation psychologist Marc Atherton said the incident encouraged him to get involved in the area of pilot mental health, which he felt was being overlooked.
'It was painfully obvious that the global industry had a very good process around safety for physical risks, for operational risks and for technical risks, but what seemed to be missing was a coherent approach to the mental health and performance risk of all of the safety-critical groups in the industry,' he said.
Surveys of airline pilots have shown that between four and eight per cent have contemplated suicide, roughly in line with the general population.
Airline pilots must undergo periodic medical examinations to keep their licences, with the profession one of very few in which employees must disclose all their health information in order to work.
Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a leading aviation safety expert in India, told the Telegraph that he had heard from 'several Air India pilots' that Captain Sabharwal had 'some mental health issues.'
But, he emphasised, the pilot 'must have been medically cleared by the company doctors [to fly]. They must have given the clearance certificate.'
If pilots develop a mental health condition in between the exams and do not disclose it, they can be stopped from flying.
This, experts say, means many conceal their health information or avoid mental health checks out of fear of being put out of work.
A 2022 study found that 56.1 per cent of the 3,765 US pilots who participated in the survey reported a 'history of healthcare avoidance behaviour' due to the risk of losing their licence.
After the Germanwings crash, a US panel warned that there was 'no convincing evidence' that screening for suicidal tendencies would prevent similar disasters.
Another possible way to mitigate the risk of a suicidal pilot taking control of the plane away from their co-pilot was to change door designs, preventing them from being locked.
The 2013 crash of a Mozambican airliner in Namibia saw pilot Hermino dos Santos Fernandes himself in the cockpit, preventing his co-pilot from entering as he made a 'deliberate series of manoeuvres' causing the crash, investigators said.
But authorities have warned against changing the design of doors, saying sophisticated locks are needed to prevent cockpit invasions and hijackings.
Pilot suicide was among the countless theories floated in relation to the disappearance of Flight MH370 in 2014.
The Malaysia Airlines jet was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board when it vanished and became one of the greatest mysteries in aviation.
No sign of the plane was found in a 46,000-square mile Indian Ocean search zone and the Australian-led search, the largest in history, was suspended in January 2017.
In 2020, former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott claimed that top Malaysian officials believed the aircraft vanished after veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah intentionally crashed it.
'My very clear understanding from the very top levels of the Malaysian government is that from very, very early on here, they thought it was murder-suicide by the pilot,' he told Sky News.
'I'm not going to say who said what to whom but let me reiterate, I want to be absolutely crystal clear, it was understood at the highest levels that this was almost certainly murder-suicide by the pilot - mass murder-suicide by the pilot.'
Zaharie's family have long strongly rejected such claims as baseless, while Malaysia's prime minister at the time of the tragedy also said there was 'no conclusive proof'.
Captain Dave Fielding, chair of the International Peer Assist Aviation Coalition (IPAAC), has long campaigned for the improved monitoring of mental health among all aviation workers - from pilots to cabin crew and engineers.
'Big picture-wise, pilot mental health and performance is the new front on flight safety, and is where we should be focusing our efforts,' he said in an interview with the British Safety Council last September.
The Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) last year published a paper on the challenges mental health issues, and the lack of support available for them, continue to pose to the aviation industry globally.
Publishing the report, RAeS chief executive David Edwards said: 'Whilst the industry is doing more to support staff who are already facing mental health issues, there remains a lack of psychosocial risk management systems to prevent the development of mental health issues in the first place.'
While the report has generated a significant response from around the world, industry experts agree that there is still work to be done to encourage airline pilots and other aviation professionals to come forward with mental health concerns.
'There has been much good work done across the world in this area,' Captain Fielding told MailOnline. 'But it is in its infancy and a lot more needs to be done.'
IPAAC, which he chairs, is a not-for-profit which develops peer support programmes to help 'provide a vital method for safety-critical personnel in aviation to seek help for mental health and wellbeing issues.'
In a statement to MailOnline, the organisation said: 'The mental health and wellbeing of all safety-critical personnel in aviation is a safety issue.
'The role of Peer Support Programmes is more critical than ever in assisting our colleagues when they need support from a friendly and confidential co-worker, trained to give specific assistance.'
For help and support, call the Samaritans for free from a UK phone, completely anonymously, on 116 123 or go to samaritans.org