Air India crash fallout spotlights pilots’ mental health crisis amid systemic industry gaps

The fatal crash of Air India Flight AI-171 on 12 June — which claimed 260 lives and marked the country’s deadliest aviation disaster in four decades — has prompted urgent introspection about the mental health of airline personnel, especially pilots. In Parliament on Thursday, the government acknowledged a “minor increase” in reported sick leaves among Air India pilots following the accident.

According to Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol, 112 pilots — 51 Commanders and 61 First Officers — reported sick on 16 June alone. The disclosure, cited in The Indian Express, did not provide comparable data for other dates or specify reasons for the surge.

The AI-171 crash involved a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that turned into a fireball just 32 seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad en route to London. The incident left not only a gaping void in Indian aviation safety records but also a deep psychological scar on crew across fleets.

As The Hindu reported, the day after the crash, the pilot of another Air India 787, preparing for takeoff from Delhi to Frankfurt, suffered a panic attack on the runway and returned the aircraft to the gate citing a crew medical emergency.

A few days later, a young first officer, haunted by images and memories of the tragedy and sleepless before duty, also reported sick. “I was on a downward spiral,” he told the paper, recalling his last message to AI-171’s First Officer Clive Kundar and the emotional toll of media coverage.

The emotional ripple effect has been stark. Multiple first officers and cabin crew members reported sick in the days following the crash, many of them suspected to be grappling with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The growing concern led Air India to temporarily reduce international operations by 15 per cent, institute a “safety pause”, and provide access to in-house psychologists and peer support channels for affected staff.

The aviation ministry has said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has had guidelines in place since February 2022 for managing the mental well-being of flight crew and air traffic controllers (ATCOs).

These guidelines include assessments by empanelled medical examiners, standalone training modules on mental health, and advisory on peer support programmes. However, experts and insiders suggest that these measures, while well-intentioned, fall short in both clarity and execution.

One senior DGCA-empanelled examiner, Dr Sangeeta Kujur, told The Hindu that despite reminders issued as recently as 22 July to apply a cognitive questionnaire during medical checks, many examiners are still unclear about how results should be interpreted or acted upon.

“We still don’t know how to grade these answers or what exact protocols to follow if concerns arise,” Kujur said, adding that pilots are equally in the dark about what such scrutiny may mean for their licences or careers.

A deeper malaise seems to be undermining pilots' willingness to seek help. The perceived risk of being grounded — and thereby losing income or their licence — keeps many pilots from reporting psychological distress.

“The fear is real,” said Captain Subhashish Majumdar, a veteran long-haul pilot and former airline executive while speaking to The Hindu. “Even if the stigma has reduced, the consequences of self-reporting remain uncertain. In a profession where medical fitness determines livelihood, the risks of seeking help outweigh the benefits for many.”

Occupational stressors compound the problem. Long-haul rosters, graveyard shifts, last-minute duty changes, and irregular sleep patterns leave pilots physically exhausted and emotionally frayed. “Some airlines do offer predictable rosters, but for many, even a sick day requires justification and documentation,” Majumdar noted in the article.

“Over time, pilots speak of missed birthdays, strained marriages, and feeling emotionally absent even when physically present — what we call Aviation-Induced Divorce Syndrome.”

There is also frustration with digitised crew management systems, which lack human sensitivity. “When you’re dealing with mental or emotional distress, being told to raise a ticket on an app instead of speaking to a human only heightens the feeling of isolation,” Majumdar added.

Following the Germanwings tragedy in 2015 — where a co-pilot deliberately crashed an aircraft into the French Alps after hiding his history of suicidal ideation — regulators worldwide have ramped up scrutiny of mental health protocols.

The FAA in the United States and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) introduced comprehensive peer support schemes and clarified that most mental health conditions do not automatically disqualify a pilot from flying. Yet, India appears to be lagging behind in implementation.

A 2022 survey by American neurologist William Hoffman found that over 56 per cent of pilots in the US admitted to avoiding healthcare over fears of losing their aeromedical certification. Indian pilots have echoed similar fears, citing inefficient regulatory processes and misdiagnoses that led to months-long groundings.

Mental health disclosures, in particular, remain fraught with uncertainty, lacking transparent, time-bound resolution pathways. Meanwhile, the preliminary report into the AI-171 disaster, released earlier this month, has itself sparked controversy.

It noted that the fuel switches for both engines had been turned off moments before the crash, raising speculation about whether this was a deliberate act. Pilot unions have slammed the tone of the report for implying human error without conclusive evidence.