Welcome to the HIMS Committee page!

HIMS at Compass Airlines has been around since the beginning, and is completely confidential. The Human Intervention Motivation Study is specific to career pilots, coordinating the identification, treatment and return to the cockpit of impaired aviators. It is an industry-wide effort where companies, pilot unions, and FAA work together to preserve careers, save lives and further aviation safety. HIMS is a safety program that helps treat addiction and abuse before it becomes a problem in the work environment.

The name HIMS comes the Human Intervention and Motivation Study, which was conducted from 1970-1974. Before HIMS, a crew member might show up to the airplane in a state that he or she should not. The crew might attempt to cover it up, picking up the duties of the crew member in order to preserve the pilot's career, seniority, and the image of pilots at large. This covering up of issues has lead to instances where pilots have operated aircraft while intoxicated. This clearly undermines safety, and is against any company’s policy, along with being an FAR violation for those involved. HIMS was developed as a way to give pilots with addiction an avenue to get help, as long as they disclose their issues prior to it becoming a rule violation. Even those that have broken rules have seen their careers return to them by adherence to the requirements of the HIMS program. HIMS boasts a very high success rate, both nationally, and locally, and other programs (i.e. Physicians’ Health Program) have modeled many of their concepts after ours. Over 5000 pilots have returned to flying through HIMS, with nearly a 90% long term success rate.

What does this mean to the Compass pilot? It means that we can help one another out without fearing retribution from the company or FAA. Any pilot that comes forward with a problem with be treated with respect, confidentiality and protection. The goal is to preserve lives, families, and careers if a pilot with addiction hears our message at the right time. Currently, CPZ MEC and The Company have a CBA agreement that the Company will participate in HIMS, which protects pilots who come forward about an alcohol or drug related issue prior to getting into trouble. While we are actively working to expand that protection, we are still available to help all our pilots find the help they need, along with volunteering our time as Peer Monitors for any current or former Compass pilot.

Remember, HIMS is a safety program that gives pilots the opportunity to remove themselves from flying, get treatment, and then return to flying safely. If this is could help you or someone you know, please contact any of us at CPZ MEC Aeromedical/HIMS. More information can be found at www.himsprogram.org. More general information about addiction as it pertains to science but not pilots, can be found at www.niaaa.nih.gov.

Mark Nelson
Chairman
Aeromedical and HIMS Committee