Mental Health in Aviation Act of 2025

The bill orders the FAA Administrator to update medical certification rules, including rules in Part 67 of the aviation regulations, within two years. These updates must make it easier and safer for people in aviation to seek help for mental health concerns and to report those conditions or symptoms to the FAA. The FAA must also issue guidance that supports these goals. It changes an existing law (the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024) to expand what a mental health task group reviews. The task group must now look at National Transportation Safety Board recommendations on aviation mental health and describe what clinical studies, research, and diagnostic tools are being used. The task group must consult with unions for FAA air traffic controllers, pilot organizations, certain aviation colleges, and other relevant stakeholders. The bill requires the FAA to act on recommendations from required reports under the 2024 law within 180 days of each report. If the FAA chooses not to follow a recommendation, it must send Congress a written justification within 90 days. The same kind of timeline and justification rule applies to recommendations from the Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee. Starting 180 days after the first related report, the FAA must review its mental health “special issuance” process every year. It must update regulations, policies, orders, and guidance for pilots and air traffic controllers as needed. These reviews must look at whether more medications and evidence-based treatments can be allowed, how to improve mental health training for aviation medical examiners, when examiners can issue certificates in mental health cases, and how to make the special issuance process work better overall. The bill allows the FAA to use up to $15 million per year from existing funds, for fiscal years 2026 through 2029, to increase capacity in the Office of Aerospace Medicine. This money can be used to recruit and train more aviation medical examiners (including psychiatrists), reduce backlogs in special issuance cases, strengthen oversight of examiners, and provide better mental health training. The Administrator may also use these funds for other related activities. Finally, the bill sets up a public information campaign using up to $1.5 million per year from existing FAA funds, for fiscal years 2026 through 2029. The campaign must aim to reduce stigma around mental health care for people in or entering the aviation industry, raise awareness of support services, and improve trust between the FAA and pilots and air traffic controllers. The FAA must make online information easy to find, post it in aviation medical examiner offices, and work with airlines, flight schools, and airports to share it. The FAA must brief Congress within 90 days of starting the campaign and then report back within two years on outreach, engagement, and feedback from aviation stakeholders.

Pilots and air traffic controllers hold safety-sensitive jobs where mental health can affect performance, but they may worry that reporting a condition could threaten their careers. This bill aims to adjust the rules so that people are more likely to seek treatment and report conditions, while the FAA still evaluates whether they are fit to work. The focus on special issuance and allowed treatments could affect how quickly and under what conditions people can return to duty after getting care. For the aviation system, the bill could change how medical decisions are made and how quickly medical certificates are processed. Adding money and staff for the Office of Aerospace Medicine is meant to address backlogs and improve examiner training, which could affect wait times and the consistency of decisions. The public information campaign and required consultations are designed to increase transparency and communication between the FAA, aviation workers, and industry groups, but the exact impact on safety, staffing levels, or reporting rates is not specified in the bill. The bill also matters for how science and clinical standards are used in aviation medical rules. By requiring review of current research, diagnostic manuals, and NTSB recommendations, it ties mental health policy in aviation more directly to existing evidence and safety oversight. How these reviews translate into specific regulatory changes will depend on the FAA’s implementation choices and future rulemaking.

• Directs the FAA Administrator to update medical certification regulations, including Part 67, within 2 years to encourage seeking and disclosing mental health care.
• Expands an existing FAA mental health task group’s duties to review NTSB recommendations on aviation workforce mental health and to catalog clinical studies, research, and diagnostic tools in use.
• Requires the task group to consult with air traffic controller unions, pilot organizations, accredited aviation higher education institutions, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Mandates that the FAA act on recommendations from required reports within 180 days of each report’s submission, or submit written justification to Congress within 90 days if it does not implement a recommendation.
• Requires an annual review of the FAA’s mental health-related “special issuance” process for pilots and air traffic controllers, beginning 180 days after the first related report, with updates to rules and policies as appropriate.
• Specifies that annual reviews must consider expanding the list of allowed medications and evidence-based treatments, improving examiner training, and possibly widening cases where examiners can issue certificates in mental health situations.
• Authorizes the FAA to use up to $15 million per year from existing funds for fiscal years 2026–2029 to hire and train more aviation medical examiners, reduce special issuance backlogs, and enhance oversight and mental health training.
• Authorizes up to $1.5 million per year from existing funds for fiscal years 2026–2029 for a public information and education campaign on mental health in aviation.
• Requires that campaign materials be posted online, in aviation medical examiner offices, and shared through airlines, flight training institutions, and airports.
• Requires the FAA to brief Congress within 90 days of establishing the public information campaign and to provide a report within 2 years on engagement, outreach, and stakeholder feedback.

• The bill does not create new, separate funding streams; it directs the FAA to carve out specified amounts from existing authorized funds under 49 U.S.C. 106(k)(1).
• The FAA is not forced to adopt every recommendation from the task group or rulemaking committee; instead, it must either implement them “as appropriate” or provide formal justifications to Congress when it does not.
• The public information campaign is required to involve airlines, flight schools, and airports in sharing materials, which may create new expectations for private and local entities even though their obligations are described mainly as encouragement and collaboration.
• The bill focuses on pilots and air traffic controllers for special issuance and many mental health processes, so other aviation workers may not see the same direct changes under this act.