WASHINGTON, April 14 (UPI) — A bipartisan effort to reduce the stigma around pilots who seek mental‑health care cleared a key hurdle Tuesday, winning unanimous approval from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
The measure — the Mental Health in Aviation Act of 2025 — would direct the Federal Aviation Administration to update its regulations for aviators who disclose a mental‑health diagnosis, with the goal of making it easier for pilots to seek treatment without fear of jeopardizing their careers.
Introduced in November by Sens. John Hoeven, R‑N.D., and Tammy Duckworth, D‑Ill., the $15 million bill now heads to the full Senate, where supporters say they hope to secure floor time later this session.
“For too long, many individuals who love to fly have struggled in silence, with untreated mental health conditions, for fear of losing their careers,” Duckworth said.
Duckworth, a general aviation pilot who retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard, cited an incident from Oct. 18, 2022, in which a student from Chicago at the University of North Dakota studying to become a commercial pilot took his life by crashing his plane.
“In letters to his parents, John [Hauser] described feeling trapped between wanting to do better and losing his license to fly, which he loved,” Duckworth said.
He asked his parents to get the Federal Aviation Administration to “change their rules on pilots seeking help with their mental health,” knowing it “would change a lot of things for the better and it would help a lot of people out,” Duckworth said, quoting Hauser.
Duckworth also brought forward the Aviation Medication Transparency Act of 2025, a bipartisan companion bill to the Mental Health in Aviation Act. Though the bill is close to committee approval, it was not on the agenda.
If this bill becomes law, the FAA would have to publicly disclose which medications it collects information about when evaluating the medical fitness of pilots, air‑traffic controllers, and trainees. In other words, the FAA would have to publish the list of drugs that factor into medical certification decisions.
Over the years, the FAA has taken steps to strengthen its approach to pilot mental‑fitness standards. In 2016, it created the Pilot Fitness Aviation Rulemaking Committee in response to the Germanwings 9525 crash on March 24, 2015, in which first officer Andreas Lubitz deliberately downed the aircraft.
The committee focused on improving pilot mental‑health evaluation by expanding training and promoting peer‑support programs, but it formally concluded its work in December 2023.
In a statement to Medill News Service, the FAA said that since 2023, it has “approved more medications for pilot use, significantly expanded the diagnoses for which aviation medical examiners can issue medical certificates, established a Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Rulemaking Committee, and is addressing the committee’s recommendations.”
To maintain employment, airline pilots must undergo a medical examination with an aviation medical examiner every six months to five years, depending on their age. Pilots must disclose all existing psychological conditions, including medications, and maintain certain criteria to keep their certification, according to the agency.
The FAA said it encourages pilots “to seek help early if they have a mental-health condition since most, if treated, do not disqualify a pilot from flying.”
However, many aviators have been reluctant to disclose mental health issues in fear of jeopardizing their careers. A 2024 study that surveyed 21 commercial pilots found that they neither reported the issues nor trusted the processes meant to address mental health issues due to fear of repercussions.
Pilots also expressed general distrust toward the confidentiality of the reporting systems in place.
Duckworth said she encountered this after switching her blood pressure medication during pregnancy, resulting in the loss of her medical certificate for six months.
“[However], my job didn’t depend on it … but this is going to be vital for people who are seeking employment in aviation. And right now, this information of what medications is allowed is not easily accessible to non-aeromedical physicians,” Duckworth said.
The Pilot Mental Health Campaign, an advocacy organization dedicated to reforming the aeromedical system, said in a press release after the hearing about committee approval of the legislation, that the proposed law will hopefully build more trust in the system.
“Pilots and air traffic controllers across the country are one step closer to equitable access to mental health care thanks to Sens. Hoeven and Duckworth,” said Chris Finlayson, executive director of the Pilot Mental Health Campaign.
“Both chambers of Congress have now proven through clear, bipartisan support that the Mental Health in Aviation Act is long-needed, uncontroversial and commonsense reform.”
Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the United States, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Globally, the International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.
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