The Air India flight accident AI171 of 12 June 2025 would have been caused by the voluntary interruption of fuel flow by the commander of the plane, Sumet Sabharwal: to confirm it last week the Wall Street Journalciting US officials aware of the content of the black box audio files.
Following these revelations, he began to spread thehypothesis that the commander suffered from mental health and depression problems. For the moment, however, these are unconfirmed items, which however have reopened the debate on psychological tests to which the pilots are subjected before obtaining the license, but also during the entire course of their career.
But how do these tests work and how to evaluate the psychological profile of the pilots? Explains it to us Stefano Tosticivil aviation pilot e CRM instructor (Crew Resource Management).
How psychological tests work and what are the questions
In general, the psychological checks intended for pilots (and, more generally to the plane crew) has experienced a moment of watershed: the flight accident 9525 of the Germanwings on March 24, 2015, crashed into the French Alps due to a deliberate action of the first officer Andreas Lubitz. “Before that moment, the controls included in the category of medical tests, which also included little in -depth psychological evaluations, “he explains Stefano Tosti. Following that air disaster, the ICAO (theInternational organization for civil aviation), has applied more stringent standards to check the stability of the pilots and aerial staff in situations of fatigue.
«In any case, there is no universally adopted model of psychological test: among these, for example, there are i Mmpi test oi 16 pfwhich also include attitudinal cognitive tests ». Specifically, these are evidence composed of at least 600/800 questions and which can last up to 3 consecutive hours.
«The tests are made up of different types of questions: from Tests of logical skillwhere it is required to move objects in space and fit them into other objects (so as to understand the skills of analysis of a problem and search for solutions), up to mathematical exercises and to the reported exercises to the planein which the candidate is requested to move a cube inside a space or simulate landing of a small airplane », continues Stefano Tosti.
“Then, of course, there is all the part of the Personal questionsfor example “Are you on a tower, your father is on one side and your mother on the other, who pushes down first?”, Or “have you ever dreamed of being a Roman emperor? And a terrorist?”. It is also possible that these questions repeat themselves during the test, precisely to evaluate the stability of the pilot’s personality and the consistency in his answers ».
Indicatively, these tests are set with one rather similar schematicity: The final goal is always to understand if a pilot is able to work well even under stress.
Who decides what the psychological tests and their frequency are
It must be specified that There is no universally adopted model of psychological test: «To establish the types of tests are the individual DGCAor the regulation authorities of the civil aviation sector (in Italy it is ENAC, editor’s note), who then communicate them to the individual airlines ».
In short, it is theIcao To establish regulations and guidelines for world civil aviation: these regulations, then, must be implemented by the various Bodies below (As can be the EAASA for the European Union or Faa for the United States).
«In Europe, for example, it is obligatory For each airline, create psychological tests before being able to release the drivers. The same tests, then, must be repeated periodically To renew it, with a frequency of about 1 year “, underlines the pilot.
To these, however, in recent years, other control and support tools have been supported: first of all the tests to simulatorsmandatory 2 times a year for all pilots, who in recent times have also started to evaluate their skills in managing the psychological stress. “For example, the pilot is asked to make a landing with strong wind and with the total indisposition of the co -pilot,” continues Tosti. All this to understand if the pilot is too Irascible, if it does not comply with certain rules or certain technical obligations or if it is too stressed ».
Between 2019 and 2020, then, the CRM (Crew Resource Management), i.e. mandatory training for flight staff and repeated every 2 years with the aim of instruct Crew members about the behaviors to be adopted when you are a operate with others. Already during this training it is possible to evaluate the pilot’s psychophysical balance and, possibly, offer him support.
Last, but not least, «the Pilot Peer Support, A support program dedicated to pilots and crew members who are going through a difficult period. In Europe, after the approval of the EU Regulation 2018/1042, Regular airlines are obliged to create departments to offer support to all Commercial air transport operators Although, since it is a relatively recent program, their implementation and use of air personnel is not yet to an optimal state “, concludes the pilot.
The situation of psychological checks for drivers in India
At this point, however, one wonders: but how does it work in India? The pilots of the Indian airlines are also subjected to psychological tests so frequent?
«In principle, in India the same regulations established by ICAO in Annex I », continues Stefano Tosti. «The psychological tests of the Indian airlines are particularly complex and severe: what changes, however, is the periodic monitoring».
In India, in fact, to acquire the pilot license it is mandatory to carry out initial psychological tests: all checks during the year of the profession, however, they are not mandatory but recommended.
In other words, once the license is obtained, an aerial pilot in India may not be subjected to other checks on its psychophysical balance: psychological tests, CRM training and programs of peer support In fact, they are not mandatory for airlines, but only recommended.
However, it must be specified that the ICAO regulations have been implemented by the Indian civil aviation body: this means that, for the moment, the legislation exists but it is not yet binding (and therefore compulsory) for airlines. It is therefore probable that, after the air -flight disaster, psychological controls on air drivers in India will suffer one quick acceleration.
