In previous jobs I've done mental health evaluations for prospective police officers.
It's for the most part a formality, they basically lie their asses off and say they've never had a miserable day in their lives, they take the psych tests and produce laughably fake scores denying problems of any kind, and unless they are actively hallucinating and unable to listen to what you're saying they're going to get a pass.
This guy could have come off totally fine if a little tightly wound in a psych eval even three weeks ago. Pilots must be able to present as superficially OK to even get the job. He might not have been feeling murderous even 6 hours before the flight.
Total speculation: Maybe a horrible mocking text from ex received right before the flight in combination with depression, rage at the woman and an underlying personality disorder pushed him over the edge. He might have wanted revenge at any cost. His hate for her completely overcame any remaining compassion and humanity he had.
"You'll be so sorry you ever treated me like this."
And she will be , and will deny he even hinted at what he would do.
I'm not saying evals are useless, it's just people can fall apart from a mood disorder in a couple of weeks or even days , they can become floridly psychotic and believe that aliens are tracking the plane etc, and you can't keep doing an eval daily or weekly or even monthly .
So you've got to have social and mechanical barriers in place so even when someone nuts up they get stopped. The traditional male desire to remain in denial about mental illness is not going to change for decades. "It's all in your mind", "you just have to think positive".
That's why I like the idea of returning to the 3 man crew. It's astronomically unlikely 2 of the three will nut up, unless they're some kind of religious nut buddies.
It's for the most part a formality, they basically lie their asses off and say they've never had a miserable day in their lives, they take the psych tests and produce laughably fake scores denying problems of any kind, and unless they are actively hallucinating and unable to listen to what you're saying they're going to get a pass.
This guy could have come off totally fine if a little tightly wound in a psych eval even three weeks ago. Pilots must be able to present as superficially OK to even get the job. He might not have been feeling murderous even 6 hours before the flight.
Total speculation: Maybe a horrible mocking text from ex received right before the flight in combination with depression, rage at the woman and an underlying personality disorder pushed him over the edge. He might have wanted revenge at any cost. His hate for her completely overcame any remaining compassion and humanity he had.
"You'll be so sorry you ever treated me like this."
And she will be , and will deny he even hinted at what he would do.
I'm not saying evals are useless, it's just people can fall apart from a mood disorder in a couple of weeks or even days , they can become floridly psychotic and believe that aliens are tracking the plane etc, and you can't keep doing an eval daily or weekly or even monthly .
So you've got to have social and mechanical barriers in place so even when someone nuts up they get stopped. The traditional male desire to remain in denial about mental illness is not going to change for decades. "It's all in your mind", "you just have to think positive".
That's why I like the idea of returning to the 3 man crew. It's astronomically unlikely 2 of the three will nut up, unless they're some kind of religious nut buddies.