How Airline Pilots Are Incentivized to Hide Their Mental Illness

Troy Merritt, a pilot for a major US airline, returned from his 30th birthday trip in Croatia in October 2022. I sailed on catamarans, ate amazing food, dated friends, cried. This wasn’t the Blues back to work, but it was a misery that slumps to the floor and shakes her whole body. He went to sleep when he wasn’t crying.

“You have to find a therapist,” he said. And he did so quickly. If the therapist doesn’t write down “depression,” the benefits will be fine. He can still fly the plane and continue his work.

After some sessions, the therapist gently suggested that he might need medication. Merit was defiantly rejected. The therapist never developed the subject again.

Merritt’s husband, who is also an airline pilot, wanted to get out of this funk. “Let’s go hiking,” he would say. “We live in California. It’s a gorgeous day!” But Merritt didn’t get out of the floor. “I don’t know what to do,” Merit tweeted from time to time. Otherwise it looked as if he was in a coma. His husband was worried about going to work and leaving Merritt home alone.

But when Merritt was flying the plane, he was far better and focused on the task before him. It was as he reached his destination city and tried to settle in a strange hotel room where loneliness and sadness had once again crept into the odd hotel room. Colleagues seem to be unaware as they often flew with different crews.