By the 14th February 2021, every AOC holder must comply with the regulations from EASA outlined in these documents.
The psychological wellbeing and positive mental health of commercial pilots is of fundamental importance to safe Commercial Air Transport (CAT) operations. Early recognition and reporting of issues is essential to enable quick resolution. CAT operators should facilitate access to support from a peer support volunteer for their pilots in a just culture environment and to other forms of support, including health care professionals, if expert help is needed.
Life events and psychological stressors can affect anyone. Pilots are not immune to mental ill-health that affects the general population. It is essential that pilots have an easily accessible route for seeking assistance when under pressure or when symptoms of ill-health first present, so that they can be supported or referred for treatment without fear of reprisal. A known and trusted pilot peer support system will benefit both the individual by maintaining a fulfilling career and the organisation by supporting a safe operation.
This guidance outlines a framework for a CAT operator’s Pilot Support Programme (PSP), which should form part of their Safety Management System.
The team at KURA are passionate about supporting our clients at all stages of the peer support journey; from making that difficult first contact through to satisfactory outcome (and beyond if you need us!). As part of this commitment, we have created MAPS.
Pete Whitten
Managing Director
The psychological wellbeing and positive mental health of commercial pilots is of fundamental importance to safe Commercial Air Transport (CAT) operations. Early recognition and reporting of issues is essential to enable quick resolution. CAT operators should facilitate access to support from a peer support volunteer for their pilots in a just culture environment and to other forms of support, including health care professionals, if expert help is needed.
Any Support programme should be linked to the management system of the operator, provided that data is used for purposes of safety management and is anonymised and aggregated to ensure confidentiality.
The Kura MAPS solution is founded on guiding principles we call,
Life events and psychological stressors can affect anyone. Pilots are not immune to mental ill-health that affects the general population. It is essential that pilots have an easily accessible route for seeking assistance when under pressure or when symptoms of ill-health first present, so that they can be supported or referred for treatment without fear of reprisal. A known and trusted pilot peer support system will benefit both the individual by maintaining a fulfilling career and the organisation by supporting a safe operation.
This guidance outlines a framework for a CAT operator’s Pilot Support Programme (PSP), which should form part of their Safety Management System.
An additional safety barrier, drug & alcohol testing of pilots and cabin crew for all European and foreign airlines who fly into the territories of the European Union, has been added. Alcohol testing is already a well-established practice in some Member States and with this Regulation drug & alcohol testing will now be extended to all EU Member States.
The Introduction of the European Union regulations described below require Aircraft Operating Certificate (AOC) Holders to ensure that a Psychological Assessment (PA) of all pilots is conducted prior to their commencement of flying duties.
The new rule around Psychological Assessment (PA)s is being introduced alongside the requirement for AOC Holders to have a support programme in place for pilots including the use of peers, and for periodic drug and alcohol testing to be conducted. The publication of these new regulations was prompted by the Germanwings disaster in 2015, which highlighted that the aviation system does not always manage pilot wellbeing in a holistic or transparent way.
Individual AOC Holders will need to tailor their PAs to suit the needs of their business and the resources available to them. Consequently, this roadmap provides models for compliance which may be tailored to suit the needs of an individual AOC Holder and their own resources, legal responsibilities and liabilities. Details about the PA should be embedded within the Safety Management System (SMS) of the AOC Holder, subject to relevant Data Privacy regulations. For flight crew and the flying public, it is hoped that the introduction of a PA will provide additional transparency around selection practices, and comfort that meaningful standards are being applied to contribute to the overall safety of the aviation system. It is anticipated that similar regulations will be applied to other safety-critical roles such as cabin crew, air traffic controllers, maintenance engineers and flight logistics specialists in the future.
Kura Human Factors has a regulatory approved programme for peer support, drug and alcohol testing and psychological assessment. Read about our MAPS product and how we can provide you with a compliant+ solution to meeting all requirements of EASA CAT.GEN.MPA.215.