Originally Posted by
eaglefly
Lets face it.......pilots in general.
Few professions are infected with such a wide range of personality disorders, neurosis, psychosis, paranoia, hysteria, extremism (political, social) and general oddness as airline pilots. If detailed psych exams ever become mandatory, I expect the pilot shortage to blossom. Not only will many present pilots be found "questionable" and therefore in jeopardy in what surely would be a poorly thought out vetting process like OSA, but it will keep many who would be found acceptable away as it's simply one more undesirable hassle to add to the already long list of why this profession isn't worth it.
You're wrong on the point of "disorders".
You may be mistaking eccentricity for pathology. Since pilots don't spend 50 hours/week in a building full of white-collar people with hierarchies and agendas they're not routinely "caged" on a daily basis by saturation in the establishment. They're free to form their own belief systems based on whatever wingnut websites they may like to frequent. Generally harmless but they sure can make you think "What The...??"
Many of them remind me of truck drivers I know...plenty of access to info, but no real discrimination as to the quality of the info.
This mainly applies to civilian-track pilots who've never done anything else but fly. Military and civilian career-changers have worked in organizations and typically have their gyros caged.