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It’s a story right out of a disaster movie: A pilot in the cockpit of a civilian airliner suddenly cuts fuel to the engines of a plane in flight, risking the lives of all aboard as well as innocents on the ground.

Unfortunately, it’s not a movie. At least, not yet. It really happened — not once, but twice in the last two years.

In July, an Air India flight headed to London with more than 200 passengers aboard crashed less than a minute after takeoff, killing all but one person aboard and 19 on the ground.

Investigators found that emergency switches — designed to cut power to the engines on the ground in the event of a fire — were suddenly engaged while the plane was just starting to gain altitude, causing the crash.

On the flight recorder, one pilot asks the other why he “cut off” the fuel; the other denied it, but then both switches were moved back into the proper positions within seconds. It was too late.

While we don’t know yet (and may never know) why that pilot acted as he did, in an eerily similar situation in October 2023, we do know why a pilot in a cockpit attempted to cause a plane to crash.

An off-duty pilot riding in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight jumped up and pulled the emergency fuel cut-off handles. In that case, the flight’s pilots were able to restore power in time and remove the offender from the cockpit.

According to a recent story in the Washington Post, the man told police after the incident that he struggled with depression, had taken psychedelic mushrooms two days prior to the flight (presumably so he would feel better), and hadn’t slept in 40 hours. He said he thought he was dreaming when he pulled the handles.

In a later documentary, according to the Post, he said that he hadn’t sought mental health treatment for his condition because he feared it would cost him his job.

The Federal Aviation Administration says it encourages pilots to seek help if they have a mental health condition. Further, it says the vast majority of those who disclose such conditions are not disqualified from flying as long as they obtain and maintain treatment.

That policy, however, is fairly recent, partly in response to a Germanwings flight in 2015 that was deliberately flown into a mountain by a co-pilot with a concealed history of depression and suicidal tendencies.

Reportedly, federal authorities are currently investigating thousands of pilots who are suspected of concealing mental health and other conditions that might disqualify them for their jobs.

It’s a tough call for some pilots, I would imagine. It’s probably easier to deny that you are depressed or have another mental health condition than it is to admit you need help for something that could cost you your career.

On the other hand, if you are at risk of harming yourself — and others! — isn’t that more important?

And it’s not just pilots who might want to conceal a condition. Many of us may find ourselves facing a similar quandary.

While some memory loss is normal over time, we are told that Alzheimer’s and other dementias affect a growing percentage of us as we age. How much do we want to know if we are facing something like that, and when do we want to know it, when that knowledge could be a double-edged sword?

The question has become more urgent, due to recent advances in testing for Alzheimer’s disease. In May, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first blood test that can detect amyloid plaques, believed to be a harbinger of the disease.

If it indeed becomes easy and relatively inexpensive to screen for Alzheimer’s, how many of us will want to get that test, when a positive result could cost us our job, health insurance and possibly keys to the car?

Won’t many prefer not to find out? After all, at this time the condition is not curable. The best treatments we have only delay the speed at which it progresses.

But research continues at a rapid pace, new treatments improve on older ones, and the earlier one starts taking them, the better they appear to work.

Furthermore, a window into even a bleak future has many benefits: We can decide to enjoy the life we have and check off more of our bucket lists, finish long-delayed projects, show our loved ones how much they mean to us, update our wills and financial plans, and tie up loose ends in our relationships.

Apparently, many older adults agree. I was somewhat surprised to see that a recent survey from the Alzheimer’s Association found that 95% of Americans 45+ would want to know if they have Alzheimer’s (despite concerns over having that knowledge), and nearly as many would want to take a blood test for the condition if it were available.

Each of us is the pilot of our own life, and we all face challenges throughout it. Perhaps the best course of action we can take is to seek maximum self-knowledge, and to use that knowledge to make our lives — and those of others whom we affect — better.