It takes a lot to be a pilot, but thousands of pilots are out there flying right now while claiming mental and physical disabilities from the government that would bar them from getting in the captain’s chair.
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and Veterans Affairs are investigating around 4,800 veterans-turned-pilots for claiming benefits on disabilities that would make them ineligible to fly. Of the 4,800 pilots under investigation, half have had their files closed by the FAA, but 600 passenger aircraft pilots remain under investigation. The FAA has already ordered at least 60 pilots to stop flying while their records are reviewed. The Washington Post reports the problem comes from pilots over stating their disabilities to the VA while downplaying those same disabilities to the FAA:
Experts said that the inquiry has exposed long-standing vulnerabilities in the FAA’s medical system for screening pilots and that the sheer number of unreported health problems presents a risk to aviation safety. While pilots must pass regular government-contracted health exams, the tests often are cursory and the FAA relies on aviators to self-report conditions that can otherwise be difficult to detect, such as depression or post-traumatic stress, according to physicians who conduct the exams.
Many veterans minimize their ailments to the FAA so they can keep flying but exaggerate them to VA to maximize their disability payments, physicians and former officials at the aviation agency say.
“There are people out there who I think are trying to play both sides of the game,” said Jerome Limoge, an aviation medical examiner in Colorado Springs who gives physicals to hundreds of pilots a year. “They’re being encouraged by VA to claim everything. Some of it is almost stolen valor.”
While not exactly the most honest strategy, getting everything you can out of our crooked government after you served in the armed forces seems like a smart move. Unfortunately, mental health is a common claim with the VA for benefits and the main suspect in some of the worst air travel disasters of the last two decades. While America hasn’t seen a death via passenger plane since 2009, suicidal pilots are suspected in 2015 Germanwings jet crash, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 in 2014 and a crash of a Chinese plane just last year.
The FAA and VA have known the two offices need to coordinate more closely since 2005, when the Department of Transportation and the Social Security Administration uncovered the same scam of pilots claiming they were too sick to work while regularly flying. That investigation revealed 3,200 pilots in Northern California alone who were reporting themselves medically fit to fly while receiving social security benefits.
Of course, a crack down on pilots who are double dipping in terms of VA benefits and flying gigs could exacerbate the current shortage of airline pilots caused by low pay, leading to even more delays on the tarmac for already weary travelers.
The entire report is pretty scary, especially if you fly a lot (like we at Jalopnik tend to do) you can read the whole story here.