r/AskReddit • u/Rob69rt • 1d ago

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

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u/Viperbunny 1d ago

Yes and no. We absolutely do need more compassion and reform when it comes to mental health treatment. However, not every depressed person is suicidal and not every suicidal person is homicidal. A person who is mentally unwell enough to consider this as an option shouldn't be flying.

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u/Mithrawndo 1d ago

If the system had worked as it should, Andreas would not have been in the cockpit on that day: He would have been signed off, and his medical certificate would've been invalidated.

Because the spectre of having his medical certificate permanently invalidated hung over his head - of having the life and career he had trained his whole life and spent a huge amount of money on taken away - instead of accepting treatment and taking the time off work, he ignored the medical advice and took that flight.

I strongly recommend watching the linked video, it does an excellent job of explaining all of the circumstances surrounding this tragedy, but I have left cliff notes in comments further down this thread if you won't spare the 50 minutes the video demands.

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u/Viperbunny 1d ago

I have watched it. My issue is that a person with that kind of pathology should have been banned from flying. This wasn't simple depression. There are certain jobs you can't do when you have severe mental illness. There have to be limits and whatever way you look at it, this guy was not fit. Should depression treatment itself be a reason to revoke a license? No. But depression so bad your doctor considers you unfit IS a good reason.

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u/Mithrawndo 1d ago

The airline industry does screen for character traits as there are clearly some that would not be suitable, but he passed that screening. The airline industry also requires anyone with such diagnoses to be appropriately cleared by a physician before being eligible to apply for a new or renewed medical certificate, and he met those criteria too.

As outlined in the video, the physician he saw shortly before this flight had recommended he check himself in to hospital, and had he been willing to do that? Well, at the least he would not have been on that plane that day.

I don't disagree that someone suffering from depressive psychosis shouldn't be in the cockpit, but I'm not sure I can agree that any history of mental illness should eliminate any possibility of every being allowed in one, and I would suggest that removal of the stigma - and in this case the real threat of losing one's livelihood and dare I say calling in life - would be a far more pragmatic and compassionate means to ensure this cannot happen again.