Except that your proposal isn't going to prevent people with mental illnesses from flying - it's going to prevent people from seeking proper medical attention when they do have mental health issues. They'll just hide their illness to protect their jobs. People do what they have to do to survive. Not only that, but not every person who is depressed is suicidal and not every person who is suicidal wants to mass murder a plane full of people. Most people who are suicidal only want to end their own lives and aren't a threat to anyone else. There are other mental illnesses that are a much bigger threat than depression yet no one here is discussing those because most people here don't actually know anything about mental illnesses.

And 1 in 5 Americans suffer from mental illness so instead of further stigmatizing people and preventing millions of people from living their lives perhaps we should focus on why mental illness rates are so damn high to begin with and divert resources into treating people and helping them live normal lives instead of treating them like lepers and backing them into a corner.

And last I checked it wasn't people suffering from depression going on killing rampages and is instead more often than not political and religious extremists. Maybe we should ban religious people from operating planes because they have the potential to suddenly be dangerous. Note: I don't actually think we should do that I'm just making a point that there are many cases of people not suffering from depression going on killing sprees. I'm sick of people trying to demonize people with depression like they are all walking mass murderers and a threat to society. I also wonder how many of the people here so adamant that people suffering from depression shouldn't be allowed to have certain jobs would pass a psychological screening themselves. If 1 in 5 Americans has a mental illness chances are some people in this thread would also fall into that category.

Anyway, it's now being reported that he wasn't treated for depression, but for a physical disorder so depression wasn't even a factor. That's probably a big disappointment for all the people so desperate to point fingers at people suffering from depression.