The FAA is forming a Pilot Mental Health Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) that will develop strategies to encourage pilots to report mental health issues. It will include medical experts and representatives from aviation and labor, who will draft recommendations for the FAA.
“Mental health care has made great strides in recent years, and we want to make sure the FAA is considering those advances when we evaluate the health of pilots,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker. The FAA plans to finalize the charter for the ARC and appoint a panel of experts “in the coming weeks.”
Pilots are required to disclose certain mental health conditions to aviation medical examiners who assess their fitness to fly. The ARC's establishment is part of the FAA's broader effort to prioritize pilot mental health, which includes measures such as expanding mental health training for medical examiners, providing support for clinical studies and research, improving outreach efforts to pilot groups, and hiring more mental health professionals to expedite return-to-fly decisions.
The ARC will also address recommendations from the July 2023 Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General report on pilot mental health challenges. This report acknowledged the FAA's “comprehensive procedures to evaluate pilots’ psychological health.”