Casten Leads Bipartisan Call for Pilot Mental Health Reform in FAA Reauthorization Bill
Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) led 18 of his colleagues in urging Senate leadership to include mental health protections for pilots in the reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Rep. Casten and his fellow lawmakers are supporting the inclusion of language to require the implementation of recommendations from the FAA’s Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Rulemaking Committee (ARC). These recommendations include lowering barriers to care for common and low-risk conditions for pilots and air traffic controllers and creating a non-punitive pathway for aviators and air traffic controllers to disclose previously unreported mental health diagnoses and treatment.
“Currently, pilots and air traffic controllers who seek mental health care are unfairly penalized by a system that perpetuates a culture of silence,” the lawmakers wrote. “While aviation professionals are mandated to report if they seek mental health care, once they take that step, they are faced with delays, confusion, and overbroad regulation in the process of returning to work. This often means that relatively minor mental health concerns result in long wait times and derailed careers for safe and well-trained pilots and air traffic controllers, which exacerbate the culture of silence that is rooted in a fear for their livelihoods.”
In addition to Rep. Casten, the letter was signed by Reps. Allred (TX-32), Bacon (NE-02), Balint (VT-AL), Carl (AL-01), Troy Carter (LA-02), Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05), Craig (MN-02), Grijalva (AZ-07), Johnson (GA-04), Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Lynch (MA-08), Peltola (AK-AL), Salinas (OR-06), Adam Smith (WA-06), Tonko (NY-20), Velazquez (NY-07), Watson Coleman (NJ-12).
This letter has been endorsed by the Pilot Mental Health Campaign.
The full text of the letter can be found here and below.
Dear Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell:
As you work to finalize this year's reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), we urge you to operationalize the important work done by the FAA’s Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Rulemaking Committee (ARC) by requiring that the FAA implement the ARC's recommendations.
Currently, pilots and air traffic controllers who seek mental health care are unfairly penalized by a system that perpetuates a culture of silence. While aviation professionals are mandated to report if they seek mental health care, once they take that step, they are faced with delays, confusion, and overbroad regulation in the process of returning to work. This often means that relatively minor mental health concerns result in long wait times and derailed careers for safe and well-trained pilots and air traffic controllers, which exacerbate the culture of silence that is rooted in a fear for their livelihoods
In December 2023, the FAA recognized the need to reform its current policies and established the ARC to identify barriers to mental health care for aviators and present recommendations to the FAA to address these challenges. Earlier this April, the ARC published its report, which found six main barriers to care: culture, trust, fear, stigma, financial, process, and a knowledge and information gap. To address these barriers, the ARC coalesced around a list of 24 recommendations to eliminate some of the main barriers to care.
The ARC’s recommendations include lowering barriers to care for common and low-risk conditions for pilots and air traffic controllers. They suggested that pilots and air traffic controllers need not disclose their talk therapy to the FAA. This change would encourage these professionals to seek treatment and reduce threats to their careers by acknowledging low-risk conditions. Additionally, the ARC suggested reducing the mandatory stabilization period for pilots taking antidepressants, and minimizing the requirement for neurocognitive testing, aligning them more closely with standards used by our peer nations.
In addition to reducing the burden of reporting routine mental health care moving forward, the ARC recommended that the FAA create a non-punitive pathway for aviators and air traffic controllers to disclose previously unreported mental health diagnoses and treatment. This is an important step in acknowledging and righting the culture of silence created by the FAA’s current system, which incentivizes non-disclosure. Implementing these recommendations will ensure that the U.S. aviation system remains the safest in the world.
The ARC’s recommendations have received significant support from prominent organizations in the aviation industry, including the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), both of which participated in the ARC, as well as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and the Pilot Mental Health Campaign (PMHC). They are the result of months of collaboration between experts and stakeholders in the aviation community.
As you work to finalize the 2024 FAA Reauthorization bill, we strongly encourage you to include language requiring the FAA to expeditiously implement the critical recommendations of the ARC.
Sincerely,
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