[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_font=”Playfair Display||||||||” header_2_font=”Playfair Display||||||||” header_2_text_color=”#00397A” min_height=”247px”]<\/p>\n
Prologue<\/h2>\n
I began working towards my private pilot\u2019s licence<\/strong> in 2017, during the winter semester of the first year of my undergraduate degree. Growing up around bush planes in the northern Saskatchewan town of La Ronge, I would hear the sound of dual-engine Twin Otters, transporting up to 13 fishermen or mine workers at a time, and the single-engine Beaver \u2014 smaller but just as helpful for hauling gear \u2014 taking off on floats every morning in summer. My father was a Twin Otter captain and would routinely take me with him on drop-offs and pick-ups. This experience nurtured my love for flying. I received my “little blue book” the summer after I started training, showing that I was now a licenced pilot. I knew I would only be flying for fun and that my passion for being airborne didn\u2019t soar quite as high as it did for the people I knew who were career pilots. But as long as I could pass my Category 3 medical examination every five years, I would be set \u2014 free to take to the skies whenever I wished.<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/fittofly\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/SamFlying.jpg” title_text=”SamFlying” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” text_font_size=”13px” custom_margin=”-20px|||||”]<\/p>\n I passed my private pilot flight test on June 8, 2017, making me a licenced private pilot. Photograph by Sam Campling.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” custom_padding=”4px|||||”]<\/p>\n Before I’d fully immersed myself in my training flights, I went to a small clinic in Saskatoon to have my exam done by a Civil Aviation Medical Examiner (CAME), a physician who was appointed by Transport Canada to ensure pilots were safe to fly. The clinic was on one the city’s main streets, but was still difficult to find, being mixed in with 10 other businesses all using the same parking lot. I can\u2019t remember if it came first or last, but the one thing I vividly recall from the exam was that I had to pay $125.<\/em><\/p>\n As I sat through my exam in that medical office in the spring of 2017, I wasn\u2019t worried about the questions the doctor and nurse were asking. Whether they prodded me with instruments or just asked about the state of my mental health \u2014 with a single question \u2014 and even though I’d be dealing with mental health challenges of my own soon after, my readiness for flying was never in doubt in my mind. But as I was going through that exam four years ago, the rest of the aviation world was still grappling with a catastrophe that had happened two years earlier, and which would begin to shine a critical spotlight on routine medical tests for pilots.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”chapter1″ module_id=”chapter1″ _builder_version=”4.9.4″ min_height=”1212px” custom_padding=”1px||0px|||” collapsed=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.4″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” header_font=”Playfair Display||||||||” header_text_color=”#00397A” header_2_font=”Playfair Display||||||||” header_2_text_color=”#00397A”]<\/p>\n Chapter 1<\/strong><\/p>\n At 6 a.m. on March 24, 2015<\/strong>, Captain Patrick Sondheimer, 34, and his co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 27, took off for Barcelona from D\u00fcsseldorf, Germany in an Airbus A320 for the German airline Germanwings. Sondheimer and Lubitz were seated side-by-side at the controls, except when either pilot left the cockpit. Unbeknownst to his captain, Lubitz took the opportunity \u2014 each time Sondheimer was out of his seat \u2014 to practise what he planned to do on the return flight.<\/span><\/p>\n The aircraft landed at Barcelona at 7:57 a.m. and its 144 passengers disembarked.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At 9 a.m., Flight 9525 took off from Barcelona for the return trip to D\u00fcsseldorf with 144 passengers and six crew members on board, including the two pilots and four cabin crew. Once at the planned cruising altitude, 38,000 feet, Sondheimer left his co-pilot at the controls. This is when Lubitz\u2019s practice sessions became real.<\/span><\/p>\n With Sondheimer out of the cockpit, the selected altitude on the autopilot changed from the cruising level of 38,000 feet to 100 feet. A slow and steady descent began.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Four minutes after Sondheimer had left the captain\u2019s chair, the buzzer to request access to the cockpit sounded. There was no response. Thirty-three seconds later, the intercom came on then three subsequent calls were made via the interphone. Each time, there was no response. Sondheimer desperately tried to gain access to the cockpit. But all of his attempts to do so would be ignored by Lubitz.<\/span><\/p>\n Flight 9525 continued its downward course. Forty-one minutes after the takeoff from Barcelona, the aircraft collided with the side of a mountain in Prads-Haute-Bl\u00e9ones, in the French Alps. The impact was catastrophic. Everyone on board was killed.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The mysterious crash drew world-wide media attention. Soon, investigators were trying to unravel what had happened.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n France\u2019s Bureau d\u2019Enqu\u00eates et d\u2019Analyses pour la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 de l\u2019aviation civile<\/b>, the country\u2019s air crash investigation authority \u2014 best known by the acronym BEA \u2014 began a formal investigation into the causes of the crash. Meanwhile, a research team in Boston \u2014 based on initial reports that suggested Lubitz may have deliberately slammed the jet into the mountainside \u2014 began looking beyond the crash,\u00a0 asking a deeply disturbing question that would soon confront the aviation industry in the wake of the Germanwings tragedy: are airline pilots depressed?<\/span><\/p>\n The study was published in 2016. The first of its kind, it was led by Alexander C. Wu from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with the goal \u201cto provide a more accurate description of mental health among commercial airline pilots.\u201d It was an important undertaking, according to the study\u2019s introduction, because this kind of data hadn\u2019t been attainable in prior studies on the subject since researchers had lacked methods of ensuring the anonymity of pilots contributing\u00a0 to the research.<\/span><\/p>\n The resulting Harvard report explained that \u201chundreds\u201d of commercial airline pilots are flying while concealing their symptoms of depression, \u201cperhaps without the possibility of treatment due to the fear of negative career impacts.\u201d The <\/span>study<\/span><\/a>, published in the journal <\/span>Environmental Health<\/span><\/i>, was conducted by sending an anonymous web survey to airline pilots around the world between April and December 2015. In a later <\/span>post<\/span><\/a> for a research blog series by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Wu stated:\u00a0 \u201c<\/span>Although this study relied on self-reports and represents a small sample of airline pilots, it indicates that there may be a significant number of working pilots suffering from depressive symptoms.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Nearly 3,500 airline pilots from more than 50 countries participated by answering a series of survey questions.\u00a0 1,837 surveys were completed and the rest were partially finished. To assess whether the participating pilots met the criteria to be considered clinically depressed, the study included a PHQ-9 evaluation. This is a Public Health Questionnaire that assesses a respondents\u2019 reported experience of depression through a one-page exam with nine questions and a rubric-style answer guide, with answers ranging from zero (\u201cNot at all\u201d) to four (\u201cNearly every day\u201d) in response to questions about specific symptoms or experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n Of those who took the test, more than 12 per cent met the criteria for currently having depression (with a score of 9 out of 10). And out of the entire survey cohort of 3,485, four per cent of respondents \u2014 about one in 25 of those surveyed \u2014 reported having suicidal thoughts during the two weeks prior to completing the survey. The survey also noted:\u00a0 \u201cPilots who reported using medication to aid sleep and who experienced sexual or verbal harassment were significantly more likely to be depressed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The study was conducted surveying male and female pilots, but researchers said they were especially interested in surveying female airline pilots and their mental health.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n A year after the Germanwings tragedy,<\/b> in March 2016, the final report<\/a> was released by BEA. The report included 110 pages of direct evidence from the crash, as well as expert analysis, conclusions from the investigation and a series of safety recommendations.<\/span><\/p>\n The outlined cause of the crash, according to BEA, was \u201cthe deliberate and <\/span>planned action of the co-pilot who decided to commit suicide while alone in the cockpit.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”chapter2″ module_id=”chapter2″ _builder_version=”4.9.4″ min_height=”3134.2px” custom_padding=”1px||1px|||” collapsed=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” header_font=”Playfair Display||||||||” header_2_font=”Playfair Display||||||||” header_2_text_color=”#00397A”]<\/p>\n Chapter 2<\/strong><\/p>\n Twenty days after<\/b> the Germanwings flight crashed in France, another plane went down in mountainous terrain in British Columbia.<\/span><\/p>\n On April 13, at 7:03 a.m., Carson Air Ltd. Flight 66 took off from Vancouver International Airport en route to Prince George, B.C., with only captain Robert Brandt, 34, and co-pilot Kevin Wang, 32, aboard the Swearingen Metro II aircraft. The flight was part of an 800-kilometre cargo run between Vancouver, Prince George, Dawson Creek and, finally, Fort St. John in the northeastern part of the province.<\/span><\/p>\n The pilots\u2019 last radio call was heard at 7:07 a.m. by the CYVR control centre at Vancouver airport, where air traffic controllers give instructions to pilots in the designated airspace. Those instructions must be followed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At approximately 7:10 a.m., Flight 66 was in a steep descent to the ground. Stresses from the speed of the descent caused structural breakup of the aircraft while it was still in the air. The plane then crashed into the side of a mountain in North Vancouver.<\/span><\/p>\n The cause of the crash is disputed within the final report conducted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, but each scenario points to the captain, Brandt, having a blood alcohol level of 0.24 \u2014 three times the impaired driver threshold of .08 millilitres of alcohol per 100 millilitres litre of blood, though, at the time, pilots were not permitted to have consumed any alcohol for eight hours prior to a flight. Due to this accident, in 2018, regulations were amended and pilots now are not permitted to consume alcohol for 12 hours before flying.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/fittofly\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/my-visual_54281522-1.png” title_text=”my-visual_54281522 (1)” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” text_font_size=”13px” min_height=”41px” custom_margin=”-31px|||||” custom_padding=”1px||19px|||”]<\/p>\n A timeline of issues related to Brandt’s employment with Carson Air.\u00a0 Graphic by Sam Campling.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”0px|||||”]<\/p>\n According to the first possible scenario laid out by investigators,<\/strong> Flight 66 went down due to pitot system icing, which means an outside air intake that measures airspeed iced over, causing the pilots to become unaware of the true flight speed \u2014 and which could have led them to start descending to ensure they wouldn\u2019t stall the aircraft. The report explained that the captain\u2019s impairment could have caused Brandt to forget to turn on the anti-icing system.<\/span><\/p>\n The second scenario pointed to both pilots being incapacited, but the report explained that investigators were unable to find evidence of the co-pilot being incapacitated.<\/span><\/p>\n The final scenario outlined the possibility that the crash was a deliberate act by a suicidal Brandt. According to the report: \u201cThe well-publicized, deliberate Germanwings flight into terrain only 20 days before this occurrence, combined with the fact that the captain had a high BAC and was the pilot actively flying the aircraft, focused the investigation’s attention on the potential for the captain to have committed an intentional act.\u201d\u00a0 The report also noted that, \u201cthe captain exhibited physical-health indicators of long\u2011term heavy alcohol consumption, which included cirrhosis of the liver and coronary artery disease. These conditions are common outcomes of untreated alcohol abuse and dependence, which are associated with increased risk of suicide.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n But an intentional act as the cause couldn\u2019t be confidently confirmed: \u201cAlthough there were several coincidental factors, the investigation could not make any conclusions about the captain’s predisposition to committing an intentional act.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Transportation Safety Board\u2019s <\/b>final report<\/a> on the B.C. crash couldn\u2019t definitively identify the cause, partly due to the lack of a voice recorder in the cockpit. But with any aviation tragedy, there are direct causes and indirect ones \u2014 systemic factors that underlie and contribute to the context in which a disaster becomes possible. And in the earlier report on the fate of Flight 9525 in France, BEA explained that while it was Lubitz\u2019 choices that ultimately led to the tragic crash, it was ultimately the system that failed Lubitz.<\/span><\/p>\n That report stated: \u201cThe process for medical certification of pilots, in particular self-reporting in case of decrease in medical fitness between two periodic medical evaluations, did not succeed in preventing the co-pilot, who was experiencing mental disorder with psychotic symptoms, from exercising the privilege of his licence.”<\/span><\/p>\n The \u201cself-reporting\u201d provision requires a pilot to go to his or her aviation medical examining doctor and disclose any illness \u2014 physical or mental \u2014 that would affect their flying capabilities. The BEA report went on to explain why the principle of self-reporting was subject to failure. The cause of the Germanwings crash, ultimately, was \u201cthe co-pilot\u2019s probable fear of losing his ability to fly as a professional pilot if he had reported his decrease in medical fitness to an AME.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/fittofly\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/UpdatedLubitzTL.png” title_text=”UpdatedLubitzTL” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” text_font_size=”13px” min_height=”54px” custom_margin=”-28px|||||”]<\/p>\n Lubitz\u2019 mental health affected his career from the beginning of his flight training in 2008. Graphic by Sam Campling.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||”]<\/p>\n The report also explained<\/b> that Lubitz may have decided to continue working to avoid losing his medical certificate because he feared the loss of income \u2014 particularly because of the lack of insurance available to Lubitz and needing to pay off a 41,000 \u20ac loan he used to pay for his 60,000 \u20ac flight-training fees.<\/span><\/p>\n Lubitz did have insurance through Germanwings. For the first five years of their careers, all pilots with Germanwings and Lufthansa (Germanwings’ parent company) had loss-of-licence insurance to compensate for lost income should they become unfit to fly. This insurance would have given Lubitz a one-time pay out of 58,799\u20ac. But he wasn\u2019t able to get any additional insurance.<\/span><\/p>\n According to BEA, Lubitz wrote in an email the waiver on his licence was \u201chindering his ability to get such an insurance policy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”chapter3″ module_id=”chapter3″ _builder_version=”4.9.4″ min_height=”3056.5px” custom_padding=”0px||2px|||” collapsed=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.4″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” header_2_font=”Playfair Display||||||||” header_2_text_color=”#00397A”]<\/p>\n Chapter 3<\/strong><\/p>\n Back in the Saskatoon doctor\u2019s office, a<\/i><\/b>\u00a0middle-aged nurse took me to the back of the office, made me pee in a cup that would be checked for blood sugar levels, and then escorted me to another room. There, she had me sit down, take my glasses off and tell her what I could read on a poster on a wall six metres in front of me. She quickly learned that everything I saw without my glasses was a blur. So I redid the test with my glasses on and I was sent to the doctor\u2019s examination room.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n There, an older man checked my pulse, my blood pressure, my breathing and my hearing. He asked me a couple questions about my overall health. How much alcohol did I drink? Did I use drugs or smoke? How was I feeling \u2014 the only question asked about my mental health. Generic and ambiguous. Then we chatted about books I was reading and books I should read.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n I didn\u2019t pay attention to all the nuances of the medical examination. I knew very little of what they would be checking me for. Eyesight, hernias, blood pressure, nothing that seemed too nerve-wracking to me, a healthy 19 year-old who hadn\u2019t had any medical issues throughout my life besides the chicken pox and a run-in with pneumonia that lasted a week when I was nine.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n An hour and a half after I\u2019d walked into the clinic, I left with a \u201cpassed\u201d exam that would be sent to Transport Canada for my licence.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n To receive and continuously hold a valid licence to fly<\/b>, pilots must meet the medical standards set by the federal government\u2019s transportation authority, Transport Canada. In order to receive approval for this certification, pilots will first be assessed by a Civil Aviation Medical Examiner, a physician specially appointed by the federal transport minister. These doctors are found across Canada. They are, for the most part, regular physicians whose patients include any member of the public, not just pilots.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/fittofly\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/UpdatedBecomingPilot.png” title_text=”UpdatedBecomingPilot” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” text_font_size=”13px” custom_margin=”-41px|||||” custom_padding=”||32px|||”]<\/p>\n Getting and maintaining a commercial pilots licence requires pilots to follow many steps. Graphic by Sam Campling.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||”]<\/p>\n The one difference between these doctors<\/b> and others not appointed by the minister is their expressed interest and added training in aviation medicine provided by Transport Canada \u2014 which is an important distinction, according to Dr. Brendan Adams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Adams is a family physician and CAME based in Calgary. He holds a certificate of special competency in addiction medicine, as well. Adams is also the assistant medical director of flight operations for WestJet, a medical consultant for Jazz as well as for a variety of professional pilots\u2019 alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs, including those offered by the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) Canada.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOne of the problems is that aviation physicians are generally trusted and liked by their pilot clients,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s a little closer than the family doctor relationship because (the pilots) realize you hold the power over their licence. There used to be a standing joke in aviation that your average pilot had two doctors: one he told the truth to and the other one was his aviation doctor.\u201d But with all physicians, including CAMEs, being able to access a pilot’s health record online, this distinction has been blurred.<\/span><\/p>\n Adams said during a standard aviation medical examination, the doctor follows the prescribed form created by Transport Canada, asking the pilot questions and jotting down their answers \u2014 exactly what I experienced during my initial medical exam in Saskatoon.<\/span><\/p>\n The examiner will then look through the pilot\u2019s medical history and ensure both sets of information line up. Most of these questions, though, are based on a pilot\u2019s physical health rather than any indicators of mental health challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/fittofly\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/ExamFormLicence.jpg” title_text=”ExamFormLicence” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”-17px|||||”]<\/p>\n According to Adams, this form is followed throughout the examination, but for mental health, [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||”]<\/p>\n To assess mental health, Adams said, \u201cThere isn’t a potted set of questions . . .\u00a0<\/span>Which is why, if you’re a good civil aviation medical examiner, typically you’ve done family practice for a long time. So you’re supposed to have that skill set.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He explained there are formal questionnaires to help, \u201cbut more typically, what you’re doing is a narrative history where you start with very open-ended questions, as you might expect your family doctor to: \u2018Tell me how you’re feeling. Tell me about your sleep. What’s your appetite like?\u2019 You know, all of those kinds of things. You ruminate about things, down to more specific questions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n During our interview over Zoom, myself at home in La Ronge, Saskatchewan and Adams at his office in Calgary, I asked whether there are other CAMEs who don\u2019t get into the depths with these questions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAny competent family physician \u2014 psychiatry is a large part of what you do,\u201d he answered. \u201cSo it’s not that I find that doctors don’t know, I find that sometimes, bluntly, they’re rushed. They don’t have time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He continued: \u201cSo unfortunately, in general practice, you’ll find that too often you get short shrift. Aviation can be like that; the pilot doesn’t really want to tell you, the doctor doesn’t really want to ask, so there’s almost a conspiracy of silence.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”chapter4″ module_id=”chapter4″ _builder_version=”4.9.4″ min_height=”2418.2px” custom_padding=”1px||3px|||” collapsed=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” header_2_font=”Playfair Display||||||||” header_2_text_color=”#00397A” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Chapter 4<\/strong><\/p>\n From December 2019 until March 2020,<\/b> Shavonne Perreault had a difficult choice to make that \u2014 unbeknownst to her at the time \u2014 would affect her life for the next year. She had to decide whether to keep dealing with her sense of sadness and overwhelming feelings of depression while remaining on the job, in the cockpit of a Swearingen Metro II aircraft, for B.C.\u2019s Carson Air Ltd., or get the help she wanted to make herself feel better. She knew that seeking help meant she\u2019d be losing her Category 1 medical certificate \u2014 her licence to fly \u2014 for an unknown length of time.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere’s so much unknown,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don’t know what’s going to happen. I still kind of don’t.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/fittofly\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/ShavonnePerrault.jpg” title_text=”ShavonnePerrault” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.4em” min_height=”54px” custom_margin=”-20px|||||” custom_padding=”||6px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Perreault flew the Metro II until March 2020, when she had to put her passion on hold to get the mental health help she knew she needed. [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Lato||||||||” header_3_font=”Playfair Display||||||||” header_3_text_color=”#00397A” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Perreault had to take the time to understand her options.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt’s weighing, like, \u2018I’ve spent this much time, energy and expertise,\u2019 \u201d to get to her position as a captain, she said. \u201cVersus, what do I need to do to be healthy? What would be better for me as a human?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But another problem arose as she was contemplating her options. Her flying isn\u2019t just a career; it\u2019s her passion \u2014 and a core part of her personal identity.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFlying makes me happy,\u201d said Perreault. \u201cSo, if I lose that, will this cause a relapse? Will all my effort be for nothing? I was, like, do I pull the trigger on this in uncertainty? Will these meds help me anyways? Maybe they won’t, and I won’t fly ever again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n With all of these questions piling up in her mind, Perreault decided the smartest thing for her to do in that moment was ask. She reached out to Transport Canada anonymously, using a fake email, to ask what would happen to her career as a pilot if she decided to start taking SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) \u2014 antidepressants that increase the amount of serotonin as neurotransmitters and ease symptoms of depression.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, they never responded,\u201d she recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n So she contacted a CAME she knew to be an advocate for pilot mental health in the aviation industry.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Hi, I’m Shavonne. I’m a pilot. My medical is due (soon) coincidentally but at the same time, I would like to go on SSRIs. What’s going to happen to me?\u2019 And they replied with a little bit general information. They weren’t too specific about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n These experiences left Perreault with little to do but research the situation for herself. CAMEs follow a regulated guide book, Transport Canada\u2019s Handbook for CAMEs, that is available to the public <\/span>online<\/span><\/a>. Perreault read through this, finding the information she would need to better understand how long she would have to be on SSRIs \u2014 while grounded by Transport Canada \u2014 to establish a competency in her abilities as a depressed pilot who\u2019d been successfully treated.<\/span><\/p>\n Perreault then took her next steps. In March 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she went to her family doctor and got a prescription for an SSRI. Once she left the doctor\u2019s office, she emailed her manager to explain that she was grounding herself in accordance with the Canadian Air Regulations (CARS) and would follow up once she knew she\u2019d be able to come back to work. Four months later, feeling like she had a better handle on her mental health situation and was ready to return to piloting, she went to her CAME. She explained what she was doing and explained that she was ready to take the next steps for her recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n When she went to her CAME<\/span>,<\/b> she was told Transport Canada required a pilot to be on the SSRIs for six months before they can be properly assessed and \u2014 as Perreault was hoping \u2014 get back in the cockpit. In addition to completing the six-month medication period, Perreault needed a letter from her doctor outlining her treatment and its positive outcome. The CAME physician then had to complete a PHQ-9.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Once each step was completed,<\/b> Perreault\u2019s CAME put all her information along with the exams and additional evidence into a case file.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThen they sent it to Transport, and I haven’t heard since. It’s been almost a year,\u201d Perreault said. \u201cI just wish the government didn’t make it such a difficult process because I feel like I’d be a better employee\u201d since being treated.<\/span><\/p>\n During the past year, Perreault said she\u2019s reached out to her CAME for updates multiple times. With the case currently being analysed in Ottawa by the federal transport ministry, Perreault said her CAME has asked and received the update of \u201csomeone is still looking into the case\u201d\u00a0 each time. While Perreault waits, unable to work without her medical certificate, she is getting financial support from Unemployment Insurance, but she also gets help from her husband. \u201cI guess the worst part is, I’m lucky enough. My husband works but if I was living on my own, I’d be in poverty. What would I do for work? My education has been geared towards flying.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nThe Crash \u2014 And The Question<\/h2>\n
Flight 66<\/h2>\n
The Licencing<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
CAMEs may need to veer from it a bit if needed. Photograph by Sam Campling.<\/p>\nGrounded: Shavonne\u2019s Story<\/h2>\n
Photograph submitted by Shavonne Perreault.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\u201cUntil you get a chance to educate people on it, I feel like their first impression is depression equals suicide, depression equals you’re not going to be a competent captain, or you’re going to sabotage this flight in some way.\u201d \u2014 Shavonne Perreault, pilot<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n