Of course, they have to come clean about being depressed, and can't fly for a few months while the FAA scours their medical records and deems them safe to fly. (could take up to 6 months)
Yeah. Right. Like anyone in their right mind is going to "come clean" and lose their job in this economy for 6 effin months just so some guy can say, "ok buddy...Prozac is a good choice for you, and you can have your job back".
Personally, this is just about the dumbest thing that I have ever heard of. First of all, the FAA is a bunch of people making rules and regulations about flying airplanes, and I highly doubt that any of them (who actually come up with these rules) have ever flown a plane. It's like the blind leading the deaf.
I feel bad for the pilots who have been lying about their depression and use of antidepressants just to keep their jobs! I think half the world is on Prozac, and fuck...I'm pretty sure the other half should be; life might be a bit easier if the world up'd their serotonin levels. (then again, a natural remedy to this would be to just have sex...but there are obviously people out there that this would be just too damn hard to accomplish, so they may need a little happy pill)
But in the end, this is just another one of those things where some moron who was suicidal and happened to have his pilots license ruined it for everyone else. The way I see it, it's no different that if someone decided to use their car to run themselves into a brick wall and took out a few other people in the process. Does that mean that DOT should make a law that says, "oh...if you take this medication, you can't drive a car until WE check you out! Who gives a rats ass about your job and family that you have to support!"
Sounds stupid right? Well that's exactly what their doing to pilots.
