Flight Hazards & Safety

Flight hazards can manifest themselves in many different forms, including environmental, man-made, and mechanical.

Flight Hazards & Safety

Introduction to Flight Hazards & Safety

  • Flying is inherently dangerous which is why a good pilot is always challenging themselves to learn new skills and perfect old ones
  • Pilots must have a solid understanding of flight hazards to mitigate them safely.
  • Flight hazards can manifest themselves in many different forms including environmental, man-made, and mechanical
  • Despite the numerous hazards that may exist, accident causal factors remain relatively static, and so special attention must be paid to these conditions
  • Reinforce your understanding of Flight Hazards & Safety by reviewing the key concepts on this page before moving on.
On This Page

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Flight Hazards & Safety

Hazards to Flight

Flight Hazards & Safety

Emergencies

  • Training for emergency situations is a large part of flight training because its a matter of what and when, not if, you'll experience some sort of procedure requiring emergency action
  • Declaring an emergency:
    • Pilots always have a tool in their back pocket, the declaration of an emergency
    • Declaring an emergency will generate priority handling until the situation is resolved
    • When you declare an emergency you may inconvenience other pilots but if the pilot believes the situation calls for it, don't hold back
    • ATC (Air Traffic Control) will ask you for some information to include nature of the emergency, souls and fuel on board, as well as your intentions
    • Lastly, remember that you tell ATC/other pilots if you are an emergency aircraft... it is not a request!
Flight Hazards & Safety

Hazards to Personnel and/or Property

  • Pilots must never forget that aircraft can cause a threat to personnel and/or property on the ground
  • The FAA in conjunction of the DoD and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) has the responsibility to protect people and locations of national interest
  • Pilots, for one reason or another, who find themselves in violation of secured airspace are at risk for government intervention:
Flight Hazards & Safety

Handling Emergencies

  • Pilots: Manage Risks to Ensure Safety
  • See/Rescue Streamer
    See/Rescue Streamer
  • While every emergency is unique and requires individual attention pilots must maintain control of the aircraft, determine the precise nature of the problem and then execute the appropriate procedure
    • Said another way: Aviate, Navigate, and Communicate
  • Not all emergencies are avoidable which means pilots may find themselves faced with tough, time critical situations
  • Flight training, practice, and maintaining a safety mind set allow for pilots to apply Aeronautical Decision-Making
  • Pilots who deviate from the provisions of an ATC clearance must notify ATC as soon as possible and obtain an amended clearance
  • See/Rescue Streamer
    See/Rescue Streamer
Flight Hazards & Safety

Safety Resources

Flight Hazards & Safety

Forms & Reports

Flight Hazards & Safety

Additional Aviation Safety Resources

  • General Aviation Joint Safety Committee:

    • The General Aviation Joint Safety Committee brings government and industry experts together to analyze safety data and develop targeted responses to leading general aviation risks, including loss of control in flight.
    • Watch Partnering for GA Safety for an FAA and NTSB discussion of how this cooperative safety process works.

  • FAA Lessons Learned:

    • The FAA's Lessons Learned from Civil Aviation Accidents Library provides case-study modules from selected small-airplane, transport-airplane, and rotorcraft accidents to help pilots and safety practitioners connect accident circumstances, causal factors, and resulting safety lessons.

  • FAA Safety Team:

    • The FAA Safety Team (FAAST) provides resources for pilots on the basis on safe and effective flight lessons learned
    • Check out: FAA Safety Briefing.

  • From The Flight Deck Series:

  • Society of Aviation and Flight Educators:

  • Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association:

Flight Hazards & Safety

Safety Management System

  • A Safety Management System (SMS) is a formal, organization-wide approach to managing safety risk and assuring that safety risk controls remain effective.
    • An SMS consists of four interconnected components: safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion.
Flight Hazards & Safety

Flight Hazards & Safety Conclusion

  • Safety is paramount no matter how many times the eyes may roll when you hear that word "safety"
    • Think of it this way: you were probably afraid, or at least had a high level of stress, when you were getting ready to take-off on your first solo, so why would you take risks in situations you know are unsafe?
  • Challenging yourself in training and planning for the worst allow for you to best prepare for whatever situation that may arise
    • Emergency procedures should be a regularly practiced through scenarios or focused thought throughout a flight
  • Many resources exist throughout the web such as the AOPA Air Safety Institute and Aviation Accident Database & Synopses which help you learn from the comfort of your own home
    • Explore the AOPA Air Safety Institute's Safety Spotlights for focused reports and self-paced instruction covering aircraft and pilot health, collision avoidance, decision-making, emergencies, fatigue, fuel management, maneuvering flight, mountain flying, PIREPs (Pilot Weather Reports), spatial disorientation, survival, and aviation weather.
    • Flying clubs, flight schools, and other aviation groups can use the AOPA Air Safety Institute's Scalable Safety Framework to define safety responsibilities, assess operational risks, encourage reporting, and build a non-punitive safety culture.
  • In keeping with the FAA's belief that safety is a learned behavior, the FAA offers many courses and seminars to enhance air safety
  • The FAA puts the burden of instilling safe flying habits on the flight instructor, who should follow basic flight safety practices and procedures in every flight operation he or she undertakes with a student pilot.
    • Operational safety practices include, but are not limited to, collision avoidance procedures consisting of proper scanning techniques, use of checklists, runway incursion avoidance, positive transfer of controls, and workload management.
    • These safety practices are discussed within FAA handbooks.
  • Safe flight also depends on Scenario-Based Training (SBT) that teaches the student pilot how to respond in different flight situations
  • The FAA has incorporated these techniques along with decision-making methods, such as aeronautical decision-making (ADM), risk management, and crew resource management (CRM), which are covered more completely in Chapter 2, Aeronautical Decision-Making
  • Learn from others every chance you get with resources like the FAA's Lessons Learned from Civil Aviation Accidents Library.
  • Check out ASI Safety Tips for quick videos on specific topics
  • The FAA also publishes their from the flight deck series, which provides additional information for individual airports.
  • Still looking for something? Continue searching:
Flight Hazards & Safety

Flight Hazards & Safety References