flight safety detectives episode 307 - Xyla Foxlin on Pilot Mental Health

Guest Xyla Foxlin focuses on how the FAA and the aviation community can better support mental health issues faced by pilots and other aviation professionals. Foxlin is an engineer and pilot who produced an award-winning video about pilot mental health.

Her aviation journey highlights include a Young Eagles flight that cemented her fascination with aviation, owning and maintaining a Cessna 140 that she has flown from coast to coast, a 2025 visit to Oshkosh and regaining her FAA medical certificate.

Foxlin discusses efforts with the Pilot Mental Health Campaign (PMHC) to push the Pilot Mental Health in Aviation Act of 2025 through the House of Representatives. She and the PMHC continue to educate the general public on the need to reform how pilot mental health issues are handled.

In her personal story, Foxlin had to regain her medical certification and ability to fly after disclosing past mental health-related medical treatments. In the current FAA medical certification system, a significant percentage of pilots hide mental health conditions or avoid treatment entirely because of concern that their medical certification and their livelihood can be taken away.
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Greg Feith, John Goglia, and Todd Curtis share the breadth of aviation-related mental health concerns, including investigators who may be affected by their work, mechanics who committed suicide or were at risk for committing suicide after an aircraft accident, and the trauma that an entire community may face after a major plane crash.

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