Hazard and Risk for the Remote Pilot (part 1)

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Hazard and Risk for the Remote Pilot (part 1)

Hazard and Risk~ Two defining elements of ADM are hazard and risk. I’m going to tell you here right now, there’s a bunch of stuff we’re going to go through here in this video, so I’m going to keep rolling fast. It’s a lot of information, but it’s in the study guide. The FAA wants you to know these things and they relate to basic hazards and risk. Whether you’re flying as a remote pilot or you’re a private pilot, these are the same things we learned day one, private pilot. These things they want you to know.. Here we go.

We’re going to roll through it, and I’m going to try not to interject too much. I can always answer comments and put them down below, but there’s a lot of stuff to get through here, so we’re going to just start rolling through it. Hazard is a real or perceived condition, event, or circumstance that a pilot encounters. When faced with a hazard, the pilot makes an assessment of that hazard based upon various factors. The pilot assigns a value to the potential impact of the hazard, which qualifies the pilot’s assessment of the hazard/risk.

Therefore, risk is an assessment of the single or cumulative hazard facing a pilot. However, different pilots see hazards differently. Being fit to fly depends on more than just a pilot’s physical condition and recent experience. For example, attitudes affect the quality of decisions. Attitude is a motivational predisposition to respond to people, situations, or events, in a given manner.

Studies have identified five hazardous attitudes that can interfere with the ability to make sound decisions and exercise authority properly: anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation. Hazardous attitudes contribute to poor pilot judgement, but can be effectively counteracted by redirecting the hazardous attitude so that correct action can be taken. Recognition of hazardous thoughts is the first step towards neutralizing them. After recognizing a thought as hazardous, the pilot should label it as hazardous, then state the corresponding antidotes. Antidotes should be memorized for each of the hazardous attitudes, so they automatically come to mind when needed.

Hazard and Risk for the Remote Pilot (part 1)

1. Resignation. “What’s the use? Forget it, I give up?” When operations at the flight deck don’t go as planned or when confusion arises, it’s human nature to blame it on fate. However, in aviation ‘leaving it to fate’ might and most probably compromise the safety of the flight. It is essential for all pilots to remain proactive and also reactive. The countless SOP’s, which would be standard operation procedures, rules, regulations that have been placed for flight operations, were formulated to assist flight crew to tackle and troubleshoot every possible situation. Antidote: “I am not helpless, I can make a difference.”

2. Anti-Authority. “Why should I listen to you?” This attitude usually surfaces upon people who have non-conformist tendencies. Pilots that express such an attitude are usually resentful towards comments and/or advice from others, be it superiors or subordinates. They also tend to disregard operating procedures, rules, and regulations. Many mistake anti-authority as a solution to balance out the ‘power gradient’ in the cockpit. Hence, it is only wise for pilots to bring up issues that they feel go against protocol after checking and rechecking. Antidote: “Follow the rules. They are usually right.” Great advice.

3. Impulsivity. “Do it quickly!” This occurs to pilots who feel the need to do anything immediately. Such people who display such attitude work on the concept that doing something is better than doing nothing. Such an example of impulsivity occurs particularly in the early stages of flight training. For example, when facing unusual attitude such as a descending turn, most pilots will pull back on the control column on impulse. Doing so would cause indicated airspeed to increase dangerously, hence proper procedure would be to throttle back before applying back pressure. Acting on impulse is dangerous and it usually will involve uncalculated and irrational actions. Antidote: “Not so fast. Think first.”

4. Invulnerability. “Nah, I don’t think it’ll happen to me!” Despite the fact that mishaps, that happen in aviation, do have a rather lower percentage probability, many still rest assured on this fact and take it for granted. Such attitudes would compromise vigilance and cause pilots to overlook certain issues that they feel are of less importance (going through checklist twice, good lookout). Remember, accidents can happen to ANYONE! We are a firm believer of that around here. Several of us have all had accidents at one point or another, and they usually happen on a beautiful day when everything is going just fine and dandy. So don’t think that it won’t happen to you because it definitely can. Antidote: “It could happen to me.”

5. Macho. “Come on! I can do this!” Pilots have a tendency to show how good they are. That’s macho. It comes out in pilots all the time. So whether you’re a remote pilot, private pilot, commercial pilot, instructor pilot, I’m telling you this is a problem and can be a problem. Many associate this attitude with males (especially those who display alpha-male characteristics), but such an attitude can also happen in females. It occurs when pilots are trying to prove themselves in the wrong way, which often results in taking unnecessary risk. Antidote: “Taking chances is foolish.” During each flight, the single pilot makes many decisions under hazardous conditions. To fly safely, the pilot needs to assess the degree of risk and determine the best course of action to mitigate the risk.

Hazard and Risk for the Remote Pilot (part 1)

For the single pilot, assessing risk is not as simple as it sounds. For example, the pilot acts as his or her own quality control in making decisions. If a fatigued pilot who has flown 16 hours is asked if he is too tired to continue flying, the answer may be “no.” Most pilots are goal oriented and when asked to accept a flight, there is a tendency to deny personal limitations while adding weight to issues not germane to the mission.

I can tell you for a fact this is the case. And fatigue is definitely one that slows down your reaction time, slows down your decision making or makes your decision making not as good as it should be. And pilots are very, very guilty of this. This is why many pilots are limited in the number of hours that they can fly. So fatigue is a big one and pilots will say “Oh, no. I’m fine. I want to keep going.”