Screening for Pilots

* Re “Pilot Screening System ‘Isn’t Broken,’ Doesn’t Need Fixing, Experts Say,” Nov. 18: As the widow of a major airline captain, I can personally attest that at least one airline pilot, my husband, did indeed fly--for many years--while exhibiting emotionally unstable behavior and repeatedly stating to me that he wanted to destroy himself, and take me with him. Close friends and family members expressed fear that he would do just that. I refused to go on flights when he was a member of the cockpit crew.

Alcohol abuse was also a problem, including violation of the ban on drinking within a certain number of hours before reporting for a flight, not only regarding my husband, but from the stories he told, other flight crew members as well.

One of the therapists my husband saw in a seven-year period (at my insistence) diagnosed him as “compulsive and depressive,” and yet in his 27 years with the airline, I never heard one word about any psychological screening concerning him or other flight crew members.

PATRICIA A. HEALD

Glendora

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* “Michael Hudson, head of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, said it is prudent for the United States to move cautiously before turning the investigation over to the FBI, considering Egypt’s place as a key ally that receives nearly $2 billion a year in U.S. aid” (Nov. 18).

In other words: If the FBI starts investigating the possibility that the actions of an Egyptian citizen, a devoted Muslim, may have caused the crash of the EgyptAir 990, Egypt may refuse to accept our $2 billion annual donation. Now, wouldn’t that be a catastrophe?

JAKE PARVIAINEN

Anaheim