A Suicidal Student?

[PositionandHold]

If he were suicidal, he wouldn't share that with you.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

I'd chalk it up to a poor choice of words on his part. But for your own peace of mind, maybe read up on the signs and symptoms of sucidal people and see if he exhibts any of these traits. Chances are he probably isn't suicidal and like PositionandHold stated, wouldn't necessarily advertise such a proclivity if he were.

 

[wrxpilot]

Beside the fact that they won't even ignite in regular air without exactly 14.7:1 mixture(forgive me if that number is off a bitm I'm working from memory here).

Stick to your day job - that is BAD, WRONG, INACCURATE, *DANGEROUS* advice.

 

[AV80R]

“If he were suicidal, he wouldn't share that with you.”

Absolutely wrong! Majority of people who are contemplating a suicide WILL share it with someone as their last attempt of asking for help. Unfortunately, most of the time they will not tell you directly “I am thinking about committing a suicide,” instead they’ll complain about life, relationships, and having nothing good to be looking forward to.

In other words, they sound just like the majority of us when we are having a bad day. Hopefully, you or someone else will be able to decipher their intentions before it’s too late. Btw. I know this because many, many years ago I needed counseling myself for failing to recognize a friend’s intentions.

I read your post and I too believe the guy made a bad joke because you put him on the spot. However, I had to clarify the “he wouldn’t share that with you” comment. Because my friend did.

 

[BushwickBill]

It happened at 069 airport. The instructor and everyone who knew the guy had no idea he was even thinking about it. No warning whatsoever. It could happen to any CFI at any time. I wouldn't bother worrying about it. It's just part of life. People kill themselves. Very few will make it through the medical process because of the perscription drugs question. They get to keep a student medical for a long time so problems can develop.

 

[PositionandHold]

I see your point. I'm no psychologist, but I just didn't think he would tell that to someone so random. Someone he'd never met before.

You seem to be more informed about this than me, though.

 

[AV80R]

“I see your point. I'm no psychologist, but I just didn't think he would tell that to someone so random. Someone he'd never met before. “

From the way it was explained to me most of the time you’re correct, they will look to confine in someone they know. Unless they’re really embarrassed about feeling the way they do, then they might confine to a total stranger. One big surprise to me was that males were less inclined to talk to their friends and relatives than the females.

Some “unusual” symptoms that something might not be right? People who have been known to be grumpy all of a sudden become very friendly and almost overly joyful (they know they’ll be heading to a “better place” because they made up their minds). They like to give out some of their belongings for seemingly no reason; in my case I received (and still have ) a small Corsair airplane model. “…I really don’t have any space for this thing and it just keeps collecting dust anyway, please take it…” was what I was told. Giving away stuff is a form of “ensuring a positive legacy” from what was explained to me. I keep the airplane so I won’t ever forget what to do if I get suspicious. Murky subject…

 

[nosehair]

The facts behind why your airplane won't be blown up by a smoker(ever, face it) are interesting. I think.

I agree with you on the knee-jerk response thing. I hate to see that in any situation.

But I think you might be surprised to learn that the no-smoking rule came about 'back in the day' when the military was figuring all this airplane stuff out. Much of our systematic way of operating is from that time, and does need to be rethought, I agree, but I would never use the word 'never'.

Oops ! I just did, didn't I?

Think big airplanes and heavy fuel flows with heavy rich vapors overflowing from high wings with a match or lighted cigarette underneath the wing beneath the heavy rich vapor overflow. Think it might happen?

Yeah, I know that's not gonna happen refueling your warrior, but we follow a lot of rules which can be bended to adjust to the real time situation, and that is the point of not responding in a knee-jerk fashion, but still, we need to be ever concious of habit patterns which can overlow into dangerous situations.

 

[lowtimedriver]

He should be safe to fly with. Afterall, he got shot down twice in the Nam and lived. Sounds like a pretty lucky dude to me. Wear a parachute just in case though.

 

[Andrew_VT]

Metro you're my hero...well said

I have to censor most of what I say on these boards cause if I dont it all comes out like your post. Then I get PM's from people telling me I'm a prick.

There's that whole "Aviation is a small community thing" and my screenname makes me trackable. But yeah, telling on a 'nam vet for, well, being a 'nam vet...priceless.