Post by Alpha PropellerheadThat is abundantly clear or you wouldn't have made such a ridiculous
statement. ("The best pilots don't drink at all.")
There are many excellent pilots in the world, and of those, many do not drink
because they know that drinking and flying don't mix. If you drink, there's
always the possibility that you'll fly impaired, even if it's just by
accident. By avoiding drugs entirely, you also eliminate that possibility.
The same applies to other people who operate potentially dangerous machinery.
The easiest way to avoid being affected by drugs is to not take them in the
first place.
Post by Alpha PropellerheadHave you ever been diagnosed with aspberger syndrome?
No.
Post by Alpha PropellerheadI'm curious, because I've been hearing about a couple of local
airplane fanatics who have been diagnosed ...
Diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome is still a matter of considerable debate.
It's a case of a personality type being labeled as a mental illness. It isn't
the first time this has happened.
I've met people diagnosed with this condition who show no signs of illness
that I can see. Yes, they are introverts, and often they are exceptionally
intelligent--the diagnostic criteria for AS, such as they are, also happen to
match the profile of many gifted adults and especially gifted children.
However, there's nothing wrong with them.
It's a strange world. Homosexuality is a sexual deviation, but constant
lobbying by special-interest groups over a period of decades has succeeded in
labeling it a lifestyle rather than a deviation. At the same time, people who
do not have mental illnesses are being "diagnosed" with things like ADD or AS,
using the same species of extraordinarily vague diagnostic criteria that were
formerly used to "prove" that homosexuality was a mental illness (instead of
just a sexual deviation). Today, it's fashionable to have some sort of
diagnosed mental illness. That's why prescriptions for psychiatric drugs for
children have increased by 4000% in recent years (although I suspect neither
the children nor the parents have considered the effect this will have on
their ability to become pilots later in life, should they choose to do so).
The fact is, psychology and psychiatry are extremely vague sciences, so much
so that calling them sciences is perhaps being unjustifiably charitable.
And with respect to aviation, the problem is that inappropriate diagnosis of
imaginary mental illnesses may interfere with a person's goal of becoming a
pilot, even if there be nothing wrong with him.
There is one bright light, though: The FAA will soon allow people diagnosed
with depression to fly, as long as they can show that their depression has
been successfully treated or has subsided. The FAA will also allow the use of
several antidepressant medications by airmen henceforth. These will be special
issuances, but at least it's a step forward.
The FAA's reasoning is that it's less dangerous to have a pilot medicated for
depression flying than it is to have a depressed pilot flying without meds who
has lied on his medical. I suppose that is true, as long as the depression is
well and truly controlled by medication. Suicidal pilots are obviously a bad
thing.
Post by Alpha PropellerheadApparently, I was unclear the first time.
I agree.
Post by Alpha PropellerheadYour only presence in the world of aviation is USENET, and on r.a.s.,
that is indeed a problem.
Actually, this is not my only aviation presence. You may have already read
articles I've written, but since they are not written under this pseudonym or
under my real name, you might not have recognized them.