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 to include routine flight operations, such as takeoffs, landings, and traffic avoidance, as these also present significant potential risks.
• Compliance with aviation regulations is a necessary but not sufficient condition for safety, as many legally compliant operations can still carry an unacceptably high level of risk.
• Effective risk management is a three-part process involving hazard identification, assessment of likelihood and severity, and the implementation of flexible mitigation strategies.
• Pilots should define their personal acceptable risk envelope and consistently apply both procedural and technological mitigations to ensure all flight operations remain within that safe boundary.

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