FLY SAFE
you figure out what’s going on and what your next move could be.” Sometimes, it takes as little as one call—occa-
sionally, one or two follow-up calls. But if more is needed, those resources are available. “That’s where I come in,” Auslander says. “I can
help you figure that piece out. Aviation mental health is important not just as viewed through the safety lens, but for your quality of life. The brain is an organ of the body, and like any other organ, it needs care and sup- port. Peer support is great for prevention, but if you need more support, that’s OK too.” Auslander
stresses that the FAA has become more progressive in its approach to mental health since the Germanwings crash. AME guidelines now clear pilots with up to 2 of 11 different mental health diagnoses as well as psychotherapy on topics including work/life balance, relational stress, and other things that “people typically talk about in peer support. “We want you to get that [mental health] sup-
port early on,” and “peer support is a great place to start,” Auslander says. And although seeing a mental health professional is reportable, she says most AMEs check it off for her clients in private practice “because it’s not a safety issue.” Still, fear surrounding professional men-
tal health services remains, says Bekker. “The moment you ask for help and start claiming it through your health insurance, you expose your- self to a world of pain.” Both Auslander and Bekker say the FAA is looking to address that concern. “The FAA is taking a completely different
stance on mental health,” insists Auslander. “The peer support services are free and completely confidential. When you talk to a peer, everything stays between you and that peer” unless the guidance seeker shares that they’re going to harm themselves or someone else. By law, the latter situation must be disclosed.
66 POWER UP JUN 2025
Talking to a peer counselor resolves issues 80% of the time.
Helicopter Pros Need Support Too “It’s great that we’ve been able to reach out to the helicopter community,” says Bekker, noting that the vertical aviation industry sometimes feels like a forgotten child in the larger regulatory scheme of the fixed wing-world. Alluding to the partic- ular missions and characteristics of helicopter operations, he says the community has unique “stresses and strains.” Marc Struckmeyer understands those pres- sures better than most, which is why the pilot decided to become one of the pro- gram’s first peer counselors. “It’s really good to be able to vent, get things off your chest with no repercussions,” says Struckmeyer, who currently flies a Bell 407GX air ambulance. After his 13-year-old son committed
suicide, Struckmeyer and his wife, a flight nurse, had only a few weeks of personal time off. Then it was back to work. “There was really no support for myself or my
wife. And now it’s 2:00 in the morning and I’m on a scene flight.” With his son’s death still very much on his
mind, Struckmeyer worried about how to keep his patient and crew safe “with all this stuff going on [in my head] and not having anyone to talk to about it. “We all have outside-of-work issues,”
Struckmeyer says. “It’s important that pilots have an outlet, a place they can go, a safe place. [The program’s peer counselors have] all gone through significant peer support training, and it’s recur- rent every year. It’s just something I really wanted to get involved with. I am honored to be one of the program’s peer support people.” But the Peer Pilot Program isn’t just for pilots,
Struckmeyer emphasizes, noting that flight nurses, mechanics/engineers, dispatchers, and others are all welcome to take advantage of the resource. “It’s open to everybody.” For more information on the Peer Pilot Program, visit
ushstpeer.org.
Mark Huber is an aviation journalist with more than two decades of experience in the vertical flight industry.
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