Reyné O’Shaughnessy of Sewickley has spent the higher a part of about 35 years flying the pleasant skies.
The industrial airline captain and pilot logged greater than 10,000 hours of jet flight time internationally.
She has been on the helm of among the world’s largest planes, together with the Boeing 727, 747, 767 widebody, and Airbus A300 and A310.
The Moon Space Excessive Faculty grad and retired aviator not too long ago added one other title to her resume: creator.
“This Is Your Captain Talking: What You Ought to Know About Your Pilot’s Psychological Well being” was printed in September and revised in November.
It reached bestseller standing in a number of classes on Amazon.
O’Shaugnessy examines varied points of psychological well being in aviation. Among the many matters are the unfavorable stigma surrounding pilots who search remedy, pilot psychological well being screening strategies, and the influence of pilot well-being on aviation and public security.
She hopes the guide will deliver to mild among the struggles pilots take care of simply to remain within the air and supply for his or her households, and result in adjustments in federal rules.
“Pilots are in search of the solutions,” she stated. “Pilots are looking for intervention. … Pilots need freedom to hunt remedy with out limitations, with out penalties to their livelihood.
”I’m not saying that each pilot on the market has a psychological well being situation. What I’m saying is that all of us have psychological well being, everybody that’s human. And we should be taking good care of our psychological well being equally like we handle our bodily well being.”
It took O’Shaugnessy about two years to write down the guide. She stated her first submitted version was twice so long as the 155-page paperback that made it onto the cabinets.
“It was greater than a challenge to me, it was a labor of affection,” she stated. “I’ve this distinctive and up-close perspective of psychological well being within the airline business. Pilots battle with psychological well being greater than what’s realized by the general public and regulators and (the) business. And alter occurs when individuals refuse to be silent.
“I’ve to face agency to what I do know in my coronary heart is true, and I’ve been impressed to search out my voice by lots of of pilots and my volunteer work and 35 years as a industrial airline pilot.”
Aviation is a closely regulated business, and pilots are often evaluated by an aviation medical examiner earlier than they will fly.
“If a pilot develops a brand new situation or a symptom and the AME determines that the minimal necessities are usually not met, that pilot runs the chance of quickly or completely shedding their medical certificates,” O’Shaugnessy stated.
O’Shaughnessy stated pilots are hesitant to self-report any new circumstances or signs of psychological well being struggles for concern of being grounded.
“There are limitations which are put in place that forestalls us, or discourages us, from discovering remedy,” she stated. “I’m a fierce advocate of pilot well being reform.”
Within the guide, the captain describes among the conversations she has had with pilots through the years about their bouts with despair and different psychological hardships.
She additionally websites quite a few research and reviews all through the guide together with one by the National Institute of Mental Health, which indicated about 40 million adults take care of an nervousness dysfunction at any given time.
The guide takes a really private story in Chapter 8 with “My Story.”
In it, O’Shaughnessy recollects her personal battle with nervousness and hypertension at age 50.
Her physique was displaying indicators of exhaustion and was experiencing catastrophic hypertension, within the “imminent stroke” vary, in September 2007.
“After 20-plus years of night time flying, I had uncared for to handle myself,” she stated. “It was an enormous wake-up name. It was a pivotal second that reshaped the trajectory of my whole life.”
She sought out a heart specialist in Pittsburgh and different medical recommendation in coping with her state of affairs.
Her journey of restoration additionally included a self-help guide, exploring meditation and mindfulness.
The next chapters take care of implementing higher well being habits, discovering steadiness and resilience in addition to the significance of sleep.
“I simply need to shout to the complete aviation neighborhood that from what I’ve discovered they, too, can profit from these life-transforming practices,” she stated.
Her guide is on the market through Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.
Household life
O’Shaugnessy graduated from Moon Space Faculty District in 1974 and have become fascinated with aviation.
“I used to be an atypical younger lady,” she stated. “I didn’t comply with the mould of behaviors of age applicable women of my time. Once they have been out chasing boys I used to be in finding out. I took my research very severe and excelled, which actually put me according to my analytical skills.”
She would study to fly by an aerospace administration program at Group School of Beaver County.
Her husband, Frank Goetze, can be a pilot. He flies for FedEx. They’ve been married 28 years.
They met as college students on the Beaver County Airport.
O’Shaugnessy is a mom of three, Logan and Blake O’Shaughnessy and Grant Goetze. They went by Sewickley Academy.
She retired as a FedEx pilot in September.
Different teachers
O’Shaugnessy earned a certification in mindfulness-based stress discount from Brown College, an establishment recognized for its educational rigor in public well being.
She has a bachelor’s in management and an govt certificates in enterprise from the College of California, Berkeley, the place she is pursuing a medical well being teaching accreditation.
Extra work
O’Shaughnessy additionally based Piloting2Wellbeing, a corporation that works with universities and supplies modules that tackle the holistic facet of aviation coaching. Its initiatives give attention to the scholars’ psychological well being, internal power and different points past the lecturers.
“We educate the opposite 50%,” she stated. “The college teaches the simulator, the technical expertise, the communication, the situational consciousness, the choice making thought course of, technical proficiency (and) teamwork.”
P2W focuses on three parts; well-being, competency and variety.
Extra details about her nonprofit is on the market at piloting2wellbeing.com.
Michael DiVittorio is a Tribune-Evaluate workers author. You may contact Michael at 412-871-2367, mdivittorio@triblive.com or through Twitter .
