Ever since the tragic Germanwings accident in 2015 there has been growing interest in the mental health and wellbeing of pilots, even to the extent that EASA has recently introduced new rules on the mental fitness of aircrew. Of course, pilots are not the only aerospace professionals whose wellbeing has a direct impact on safety. There are many humans in the chain equally vulnerable to the stresses and strains of modern life, and not least aircraft maintainers. However, are their needs being recognised, never mind being addressed? Following a successful recovery from an airborne incident the passengers and crew are rightly given every assistance to get over the traumatic experience, but what about the engineers worried that something they might have done was the cause of the incident? They are frequently the ones who have to immediately recover the aircraft, perhaps without a thought by anyone as to how they might feel about it and the impact this could have on their performance.
This Conference takes a unique look at wellbeing and mental health from the maintainers point of view. What are the specific challenges faced by aircraft engineers and the business case for addressing these challenges? How widespread is the problem? Individual and organisational coping mechanisms will be discussed and we will hear thoughts from the CAA.

This is a significant opportunity to shine a light on the challenges faced by maintainers who can often be taken for granted. Your attendance would help us to start a new conversation at a time when arguably the need is at its greatest.