Interactive and Visual Risk Assessment for a Training Flight in 10 Minutes
Outline:
Why do most training flights skip a risk assessment? It’s boring, and the practice area is close by. When is a weather briefing required? A. When not in the vicinity of an airport.
A fair number of accidents involve training flights and tend to be centered around loss of control.
The highest fatality rates are inadvertent flights into IMC.
The FAA has too many models and methods. We need a simple, quick way that isn’t boring.
Hazard vs Risk - Some definitions. A Hazard is something that could be dangerous. A risk is how the hazard affects the safety of the flight.
The big lie - Your drive to the airport was more dangerous than flying a general aviation airplane.
Fatality rates are comparable to riding a motorcycle.
Risk assessment components: Identify, eliminate, mitigate, accept.
Structure - Preflight PAVE, Inflight 3P, SRM 5P checklist.
Tools. ForeFlight and Cessna 172 performance apps.
You need the Performance Plus subscription. Why? Profile view layers, hazard advisor, 3D view of airports, 3D flight route, wind speeds.
Join SAFE and get ⅓ off your ForeFlight subscription. safepilots.org
Make a flight plan, then use profile view to see airspace, terrain, obstacles, cloud bases, tops, icing, and turbulence.
Change the corridor width via the gear icon. The default is 4 miles.
Use hazard advisor to survey nearby terrain and obstacles.
Get a weather briefing and step through it.
If you have to dissect it too much or you are on the fence, it’s a no-go. GA is not a substitute for airline travel and can be very undependable. Your car is way more dependable. ¼ mile visibility in snow, and you can still drive.
Use 3D view to see the departure, arrival, and alternate airport environments.
Use 3D flight to fly the route.
Use ADS-B traffic to evaluate an appropriate practice area or airport.
Use the FRAT (Flight Risk Assessment Tool) in the 172 Performance app to add extra risk choices and see how they move the needle.
Examples of training routes and places. KPAO to KLVK. KOPF to the practice area.
Associated Resources
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