Whether we think about it or not, as pilots we make judgments about risk every time we fly. For most of us, it’s a pretty informal thing—just something we do automatically. But research has shown that there are real safety benefits to taking a more formal approach to risk management.

The Air Safety Institute (ASI) Flight Risk Evaluator is designed to help pilots take a more systematic approach to those gray areas of go / no-go decisions. Take a few minutes to think about your own approach to risk management. Then, when you move on to the app, remember that its guidance is meant to be general; it’s your assessment of the situation that counts. Be realistic about your skills and proficiency. If you feel uncomfortable about something the program says is safe, always trust your own judgment and err on the side of caution.

Benefits:
• Provides an objective, real-time, and specific report on the risk involved with your next flight.
• Helps you make better choices about flight risk
• A great learning tool for new pilots in targeting the areas of greatest risk for your flight
• Helps craft your own personal minimums
• Tells you why a particular flight area may be too risky for your experience level

Features:
• Uses your current and total flight experience to evaluate your risk on any flight
• Automatically downloads real-time airport weather and runway lengths and configurations
• Offline use allows you to manually input any variables you choose to determine what the risks are if conditions change
• Stores your flight time and experience
• Stores multiple aircraft profiles for use with flying clubs or FBOs

In the real world of flying it can be tough to make calls about what’s safe and what isn’t. Airline and corporate pilots have rules that clearly spell out how to deal with sticky situations, but for the most part general aviation (GA) pilots are left to their own judgment. And that’s a good thing—but it doesn’t mean we always have to go it alone.

It sounds simple in theory…but out in the real world it’s not always easy to decide whether a given flight is safe or not. In some cases one particular factor may be marginal while everything else is good, while in other cases there can be a multitude of variables involved, and it can be hard to decide exactly how much weight to give each of them. Sometimes things look OK to start with, but then change en route. That’s when the calls can get really tough—and you need to choose carefully because the stakes can be high.

GA pilots prefer more flexibility when it comes to risk—more like guidelines than actual rules. Thing is, for guidelines to work you need to have good judgment …and a good choice for one pilot might be a really bad choice for another. The ASI Flight Risk Evaluator is a step to help you determine which choice is best for you.