Record-setting young pilot dies at 26

On Mar 20, 1:00 pm, "Darkwing" theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote:

There lies the problem, if a commercial pilot was depressed but didn't want
to lose his job he would most likely continue flying depressed and not tell
anyone. It isn't a very good situation to put a person, either tell your
employer your problem and most likely lose your certificate so you can get
on medication OR not tell anyone so you can keep flying, yet still be
depressed.

This logic is flawed, because it assumes:
1) that the person has no options then to continue flying depressed,
2) that antidepressants are mere "un-depressors" and therefore
relatively benign.

The CFRs prohibit a pilot who possesses a current medical certificate
from performing crewmember duties while the pilot has a known medical
condition or increase of a known medical condition that would make the
pilot unable to meet the standards for the medical certificate.

People who are clinically depressed have all sorts of short-circuits
in their thinking, prime among them a severe lack of interest in
consequences.

So "flying while depressed" or "hiding it" is illegal and stupid.

Masking these symptoms with antidepressants is not the long term
answer for pilots or non-pilots. Psychiatrists expect these drugs to
be used to help people through the depression until they are able to
work through the causations rationally.

Just because "lots of people" are popping these pills and "are ok"
does not warrant a change to the cautious approach of the CFRs.


Dan Mc

"Dan" wrote in message
...
On Mar 20, 11:57 am, "Darkwing" theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote:

Avweb had a story about anti-depressants and flying in Austrailia. Why
they
are not allowed by the FAA I don't understand, I would think a
"non-depressed" pilot would be safer than a depressed pilot which the
study
does show.

http://shorterlink.com/?O9JMUE

Antidepressant drugs are not simple "un-depressers."

They affect various physiological and psychological processes -- some
barely understood.

I'm with the FAA on this one.



Are you a medical doctor?

Gig 601XL Builder wrote:

Did she ever go on to get her license in the first place. There is only
one person with the last name Van Meter in data base and his was issued
in 1955.

I've noticed that in all of the articles I've read that detail her
background, the acquisition of a pilots license is conspicuously absent. No
big surprise there. Just another indication that the parents were probably
more interested in these stunts than their daughter.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

--
Message posted via AviationKB.com
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums...ation/200803/1

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:37:35 -0400, Dudley Henriques wrote:

One of the huge problems associated with these kids who are hyped up in
the public eye by their parents early on in their lives is that later
on, the child can't fulfill on the hype and in effect finish the "story".

This can leave a child, now a young adult, with a deep sense of failure
which "aint good" by any definition.

In the case of this young lady, the odds of her actually becoming the
astronaut she was hyped up as desiring to become, and presented to the
world as the reason for her learning to fly were an odds on built in
failure to begin with. The competition for these jobs is so intense she
would have had to become a superior product far exceeding her hype in
order to even have had a chance at acheiving that goal.

I see a tremendous potential for depression and feeling of failure in
all this, and I can only hope that those who perpetrated the events that
led to this young lady's ultimate decision to take her life have learned
an extremely painful lesson and that those parents who come after ths
event learn as well from this tragedy.

Having worked with hundreds of young athletes in over 30 sports, most
high achievers, I can tell you that the number of depressed young
adults, teenagers and subteens was alarming. The parents of these
athletes were nearly always the center for the blame either setting
goals that were unrealistic or supporting goals that were relatively
unachievable.

It's a sad commentary on our American society today, this tragedy being
the tip of a hidden iceberg of problems.
--
Remove numbers for gmail and for God's sake it ain't "gee" either!
I hesitate to add to this discussion because I'm not an instructor,
just a rather slow student who's not qualified to give advice that
might kill someone.

"Dan" wrote in message
...
On Mar 20, 1:00 pm, "Darkwing" theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote:

There lies the problem, if a commercial pilot was depressed but didn't
want
to lose his job he would most likely continue flying depressed and not
tell
anyone. It isn't a very good situation to put a person, either tell your
employer your problem and most likely lose your certificate so you can
get
on medication OR not tell anyone so you can keep flying, yet still be
depressed.

This logic is flawed, because it assumes:
1) that the person has no options then to continue flying depressed,
2) that antidepressants are mere "un-depressors" and therefore
relatively benign.

The CFRs prohibit a pilot who possesses a current medical certificate
from performing crewmember duties while the pilot has a known medical
condition or increase of a known medical condition that would make the
pilot unable to meet the standards for the medical certificate.

People who are clinically depressed have all sorts of short-circuits
in their thinking, prime among them a severe lack of interest in
consequences.

So "flying while depressed" or "hiding it" is illegal and stupid.

Masking these symptoms with antidepressants is not the long term
answer for pilots or non-pilots. Psychiatrists expect these drugs to
be used to help people through the depression until they are able to
work through the causations rationally.

Just because "lots of people" are popping these pills and "are ok"
does not warrant a change to the cautious approach of the CFRs.


Dan Mc



Well I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

All you manage to do when you stereotype this stuff is push it farther
underground and stop people from getting help.

On Mar 20, 1:58 pm, "Darkwing" theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote:


Well I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

All you manage to do when you stereotype this stuff is push it farther
underground and stop people from getting help.

That's a mis-characterization of my remarks.

There's a difference between arguing that antidepressants should not
be acceptable for pilots and that I am somehow preventing "people from
getting help."

Dan Mc

"Dan" wrote in message
...
On Mar 20, 1:58 pm, "Darkwing" theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote:


Well I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

All you manage to do when you stereotype this stuff is push it farther
underground and stop people from getting help.

That's a mis-characterization of my remarks.

There's a difference between arguing that antidepressants should not
be acceptable for pilots and that I am somehow preventing "people from
getting help."

Dan Mc



That isn't what I implied, I was trying to say that the rules being what
they are force pilots to make a decision that may not be the best for all
involved, that is all.

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:46:04 -0500, Gig 601XL Builder
wrote:

Did she ever go on to get her license in the first place. There is only
one person with the last name Van Meter in data base and his was issued
in 1955.

That's interesting. When I searched the FAA Airmans database, it
returned over 50 records, but none in the USA with a first name
beginning with 'Vic'. The V VAN METER you found

VERNON HOWARD VAN METER
DOI: 7/19/1955
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT
Rating(s):
PRIVATE PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
DOI: 4/25/1955
Certificate: MECHANIC
Rating(s):
MECHANIC
AIRFRAME
POWERPLANT


isn't her father; his name is Jim. But there are two Van Meter
records in Pennsylvania:

ELGIN VAN METER
DOI: 7/19/1955
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT
Rating(s):
PRIVATE PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE SEA



ROBIN VAN METER
DOI: 11/26/2004
Certificate: FLIGHT ATTENDANT
Rating(s):
FLIGHT ATTENDANT
GROUPII

It's interesting that Vernon and Elgin both had their certificates
issued on the same day. Perhaps that's just an epoch date for the
database?

JFK Jr's record is still in the database, so it's not an issue of the
records of the deceased being purged. An applicant for an airplane
student pilot certificate must be 16, so Vicki had no certificate when
she made her record setting flights. But she was honored as a pilot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_van_Meter
In 2003 she was featured with 36 other female pilots in the
traveling exhibit Women and Flight — Portrait of Contemporary
Women Pilots.[9][10], based on a book of the same name by Carolyn
Russo.[11]

She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova after graduating
from Edinboro University with a degree in criminal justice. She
worked as an insurance company investigator and had made plans to
pursue graduate studies.[6] Van Meter died at her home in
Meadville on March 15, 2008 from a self-inflicted gunshot
wound.[1] Her death surprised her family who believed she had been
coping with her depression. She was 26.


Photo:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08078/866086-100.stm
Vicki Van Meter at 12.
She was also one of 37 pilots featured in "Women and Flight --
Portraits of Contemporary Women Pilots," a traveling exhibition
now showing at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.


I guess you'll have to read her book (or ask her flight instructor Bob
Baumgartner) to see if she ever earned her airmans certificate:

http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Flight-...dp/0670862606/

"Dan" wrote in message
...
On Mar 20, 1:00 pm, "Darkwing" theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote:

There lies the problem, if a commercial pilot was depressed but didn't
want
to lose his job he would most likely continue flying depressed and not
tell
anyone. It isn't a very good situation to put a person, either tell your
employer your problem and most likely lose your certificate so you can
get
on medication OR not tell anyone so you can keep flying, yet still be
depressed.

This logic is flawed, because it assumes:
1) that the person has no options then to continue flying depressed,
2) that antidepressants are mere "un-depressors" and therefore
relatively benign.

The CFRs prohibit a pilot who possesses a current medical certificate
from performing crewmember duties while the pilot has a known medical
condition or increase of a known medical condition that would make the
pilot unable to meet the standards for the medical certificate.

People who are clinically depressed have all sorts of short-circuits
in their thinking, prime among them a severe lack of interest in
consequences.

So "flying while depressed" or "hiding it" is illegal and stupid.

Masking these symptoms with antidepressants is not the long term
answer for pilots or non-pilots. Psychiatrists expect these drugs to
be used to help people through the depression until they are able to
work through the causations rationally.

Just because "lots of people" are popping these pills and "are ok"
does not warrant a change to the cautious approach of the CFRs.


Are you a psychiatrist?

On Mar 20, 3:27 pm, "Maxwell" luv^2^fly^99@^cox.^net wrote:

Are you a psychiatrist?

Does it show?