“I Was Begging, Saying I Cannot Fly:” Are Pilots Suffering From A Mental Health Crisis?

A former Etihad pilot has gone public with accusations that Gulf carrier Etihad Airways ignored serious mental health issues he reported to management following a near-disastrous takeoff attempt which resulted from striking an object on the runway. Despite suffering from the effects of PTSD, the one-time Etihad first officer says he was ordered to return to duty.

Former Etihad Airways pilot, Finian Greene says that the airline ignored a mental health crisis he reported to his supervisors following an emergency landing three years ago. The then first officer for the Gulf carrier says the company took a “blasé attitude” after being informed that one of their flight crew members was suffering the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Greene told The Australian he began to realize he was dealing with a serious mental health crisis in the days following a nearly disastrous takeoff during an Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) to Sydney Airport (SYD) flight in September of 2016. He and his crewmates were able to land the plane safely (despite an engine being destroyed in a ball of flames after the plane struck a foreign object on the runway), but Greene said the events took a toll on his mental health.

Greene says that the airline initially promised to help him to get treatment, but instead simply ordered him to return to the flight deck with no medical evaluation at all. The 50-year-old says that he was not fit for duty at the time. “Towards the end I was just begging, saying ‘I cannot fly,’” Greene told the newspaper.

Adding insult to injury, Greene says when he decided to return to his native Australia to seek treatment for his PTSD symptoms, the airline fired him from the job he had worked for more than a decade. He says that he decided to go public with his story in the hope that other aviators in similar positions will not have to decide between their careers and their mental health (and possibly the safety of the flying public). Etihad officials have so far refused to comment on the allegations.

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