Subtle Risks

As pilots, we spend a lot of time focusing on obvious hazards to our flight operations: convective activity, icing, low ceilings and other conditions. Pilots who fail to manage such risks constitute a disproportionate share of fatal accidents. These flight conditions, however, are not the only potential hazards that we should consider for the purposes of managing risk. Tasks and procedures required on every flight are also potential hazard sources and should be viewed through the risk management lens. These include such routine and necessary tasks as takeoffs and landings, even under benign conditions, as well as operations under calm skies in VMC conditions when there is still other traffic to avoid.

Key Takeaways:

• Pilots must extend risk management beyond obvious hazards (e.g., severe weather) to include routine flight operations like takeoffs, landings, and traffic avoidance, as these also present significant potential hazards.
• Regulatory compliance does not guarantee safety; pilots can operate legally while still conducting unsafe operations, necessitating a formal risk management process of identification, assessment, and mitigation.
• Effective risk management requires pilots to determine their personal risk tolerance and apply flexible mitigation strategies, including procedural adjustments and leveraging technology like ADS-B, rather than relying solely on "see and avoid."

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