Captain Al Kent
I was employed as a commercial airline pilot until a hereditary mental illness caused my career to come to a screeching halt in 1993. Being grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration after seeking treatment for major depression was mandatory in order to comply with strict medical standards under the Code of Federal Aviation Regulations. My official diagnosis was eventually changed to bipolar disorder, and the ensuing loss of my career was rather devastating. Battling severe depression initially and later intense bipolar mood swings were extremely heavy burdens placed upon me at a fairly young age.
Many people in our society are stricken with debilitating illnesses of the mind and often face difficult uphill battles. I share my personal experiences in an attempt to illustrate that serious mental health issues can be treated successfully and ultimately conquered. Depression can strike anyone out of the blue and transform life into an extremely challenging struggle. Facing the barriers that such illnesses place in the lives of the afflicted often seem insurmountable, but can be overcome.
Ascent from Darkness is a factual account of my life thus far. I trust it will serve to inspire those individuals trapped in the darkness to have enduring hope...
Born and raised in a small rural community in southeastern Pennsylvania, I learned to fly at a local airport and later became a genuine airline pilot at the age of twenty-two. Only five years later, I was diagnosed with an inherited mental disorder that threatened to end my career. Having spent many years collecting notes and formulating ideas while living with a challenging disorder of the mind, my autobiographical account titled Ascent from Darkness has come to fruition.
The book is about my real-life experiences in dealing with depression and living with bipolar disorder. My research and in-depth personal experiences have been compiled into a manuscript that is intended to share an inspirational message of hope with members of our society desperate for this illuminating story in a world often shrouded in darkness. Currently, I reside in central Florida and have overcome all detrimental effects of living with an illness of the mind. My inherited disorder is totally under control and I am gainfully employed as an instructor pilot for a major U.S. air carrier.
Excerpts from Chapter 6 -
Dawn of the Darkness
In addition to large dosages of prayer, I had made a commitment to get much more exercise than I had gotten regularly for some time. Strenuous physical activity would be helpful to my condition by causing the brain’s natural ability to produce endorphins to be maximized. This increased brain chemistry would hopefully help the neurotransmitters of my mind calm down at night allowing me to feel tired and possibly get some much needed sleep. When at home on my days off from work, I would ride my bike for many miles everyday and do repetitious exercises, like sit ups and push ups, in an attempt to tire my body and mind out. When away on a flying trip, I would spend several hours jogging and exercising before or after my flight duties were complete for the day. I also tried taking nutritional supplements and extracts designed to calm the mind such as valerian root, chamomile tea, to name a few, and even drinking a warm glass of milk prior to bedtime each night. Despite my continuously earnest prayers, a rigid exercise routine and a supplement regimen designed to dull my over active mind, I was still having great difficulty getting adequate rest. My body weight was down to levels I had not seen since my teenage years, and my pilot uniform became excessively baggy as many of my co-workers became increasingly concerned for my health. Not sleeping during the night causes one’s metabolism to work overtime, and I was beginning to grow terribly thin and looked quite frail.
Needless to say, my alertness in the cockpit was severely diminished as my condition continued to worsen. Still flying as a First Officer or second-in-command, I was able to disguise my degrading performance to some extent. Having recently been awarded a Captain position on a new aircraft we would be receiving, I was expected to attend initial training in Toronto, Canada at the beginning of August. My lack of mental attentiveness and an increasing inability to concentrate would make successful completion of this upcoming training nearly impossible. After a week or two of flying in this somewhat lethargic state, I knew that I would have to hang up my pilot hat for awhile to address my deteriorating condition. I vividly remember my last leg in the cockpit of an airliner as I made the southerly flight between Washington Dulles and Richmond’s Byrd Airports. It was my leg to fly and as I rolled the aircraft onto final approach to Runway 20, my emotions took over as the tears began to fall from my weary eyes. Upon landing in Richmond, I would advise the domicile flight manager of my inability to attend training in Canada and my need for a leave of absence for medical reasons. As the Fokker aircraft settled to the runway, the touchdown was perhaps one of the smoothest I have ever accomplished. Knowing that I would not get many more landing chances for some time, I found it quite fitting that I "greased it on." Little did I know at that time, this emotional touchdown would be the last actual landing of a large airliner of my career.
