FAA Amends Mental Health Evaluation Criteria for Pilots

The agency has revised its guidance to aviation medical examiners on 'uncomplicated anxiety, depression and related conditions.'

Russ Niles

Monday, June 03, 2024 at 05:15 PM ET

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Edited By: tccjeremy

The FAA has revised its mental health guidance to AMEs. [FLYING File photo]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA has updated its guidance, removing the requirement for automatic review for pilots with a history of up to two mental health diagnoses.
Pilots can now be certified directly by an Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) if they have been off medication for two years, pass a specific mental health questionnaire, and the AME has no concerns.
The questionnaire screens for serious mental health issues (e.g., suicidal thoughts, hospitalization), and any "YES" answer mandates the AME to defer the application for FAA review.

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A history of no more than two mental health diagnoses no longer requires automatic review by the FAA for any class of pilot certificate as long as certain criteria are met.

The agency has revised its guidance to aviation medical examiners (AMEs) on “uncomplicated anxiety, depression and related conditions” and chief among the changes is that the FAA can be left out of the process if the pilot has been off medication for two years, there are no issues raised by a questionnaire and the AME has no concerns.