Enabling CFIs to Teach Risk Evaluation and Exercising Judgment

Enabling CFIs to Teach Risk Evaluation and Exercising Judgment

Enhancing and maintaining aviation safety depends on a pilot’s recognition of the hazards and risks associated with flight. Judgment is the ability to objectively weigh the risks and rewards of a proposed flying activity and calculate the likelihood of a safe outcome after weighing all the known contributing factors. Aeronautical decision-making is a systematic approach to the mental process used to determine consistently the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances. A hazard is a present condition, event, object, or circumstance that could lead to or contribute to an unplanned or undesired event such as an accident. Risk is the future impact of a hazard that is not controlled or illuminated.

Risk management is a systematic decision-making process designed to identify hazards, assess the degree of risk, and determine the best course of action. It is a logical process of weighing the potential costs of risks against the possible benefits of allowing those risks to stand uncontrolled. These processes can and must be taught by Certificated Flight Instructors (CFIs) and imparted to our learners. Material from the recently published book, A Pilot’s Guide to Risk and Judgement, will illustrate these teaching techniques.

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