Hacker News Reader

When military considered it fine to give amphetamines to pilots, it also considered it fine to run soldiers through still hot ground zero of nuclear explosion (so hot the boots would melt), or purposefully release radionuclides over american cities to research the effects.

Military isn't necessarily a good benchmark for sane ideas.

And before they switched to modafinil, they gave pilots (wait for it...) amphetamines.

It's total nonsense and the entire aeromedical division should be razed and rebuilt from the ground up.

Presumably to promote wakefulness, not for its benefits for ADHD.

The point being the medication has no effect on ones ability to safely operate an aircraft.

The issue is, yes, there are ADHD cases that are debilitating but they typically don't even make it out of training. If you're managing the condition through therapy and potentially medication there isn't an issue but the FAA fails to recognize that neurodivergence isn't binary.

A significant chunk of the pilot population has ADHD, it's common enough to basically be a meme in the community because the career/hobby is especially appealing to those that have it.