Situational awareness is the accurate perception and understanding of all the factors and conditions within the four fundamental risk elements that affect safety before, during, and after the flight. Maintaining situational awareness requires an understanding of the relative significance of these factors and their future impact on the flight. When situationally aware, the pilot has … Read more
Setting personal minimums is an important step in mitigating risk, and safe pilots know how to properly self-assess. For example, in the opening scenario, the aircraft Mary plans to fly may have a maximum crosswind component of 15 knots listed in the aircraft flight manual (AFM), but she only has experience with 10 knots of … Read more
AMTs should learn about risk management early in training. Instructors tasked with integrating risk management into instruction can turn to hazard assessments that identify the safety risks associated with the facility being used, the tools used in the procedure, and/or the job being performed. The process for identifying hazards can be accomplished through the use … Read more
As we have just learned with the Identify, Assess, & Mitigate model, risk management is a decision-making process designed to identify or perceive hazards systematically, assess the degree of risk associated with a hazard, and determine the best course of action to mitigate the risk. For example, the Perceive, Process, Perform (3P) model for aeronautical … Read more
Risk is defined as the probability and possible severity of accident or loss from exposure to various hazards, including injury to people and loss of resources. [Figure 1] All Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations in the United States involve risk and benefit from decisions that include risk assessment and risk management. Risk management, a formalized … Read more
“Pull the throttle back!” Lenore, a flight instructor, ordered the learner, Jennifer, as the revolutions per minute (rpm) climbed past past 2,000 on engine start. “I did, I did!” Both Jennifer and Lenore grabbed the mixture and pulled. The engine went from a deafening roar to silence. They looked at each other. “What happened?” asked … Read more