As a pilot, you must be vigilant. You must also be prepared to take action to counter hazards and unexpected situations. Sometimes you must make quick decisions to ensure a safe and successful flight.
To manage the unexpected, you should focus on:
- pre-flight planning
- aeronautical decision making
- checklists.
The following resources can help you to make sure you have a safe flight.
Aeronautical decision making
You should have a plan B. When in doubt use one of the following decision-making tools:
- Safety behaviours human factors for pilots book 7: Decision-making (PDF, 933 kB)
- Safety behaviours human factors for pilots video: Decision-making (YouTube).
Checklists
You can't remember everything. A checklist can help save lives. See:
- Safety behaviours human factors for pilots book 2: Safety culture (PDF, 1.44 MB)
- Safety behaviours human factors for pilots video: Bits and pieces (YouTube).
Flight Safety Australia
Flight Safety Australia is our aviation safety magazine. It is available in print and online. The following articles cover planning for safety, decision making and checklists:
- Checklists: Why and how
- One thing at a time: A brief history of the checklist
- Point it, call it, get it right
- Close call: Rush is the greatest enemy
- Locked into error
- Close scrapes: Gear-up embarrassments that could have been nasty
- A winter’s tale
- Decide to survive – the art of decision making
- The myths of pilot error
You can also listen to Flight Safety Australia's close calls.
Pre-flight planning
The below resources will help you make time to plan, expect the unexpected and think about the consequences:
- Flight planning kit
- Pre-flight personal minimums checklist
- Time in your tanks card
- Visual Flight Rules Guide (VFRG)
- Passenger safety briefing (PDF, 2.8 MB)
- Airservices Aeronautical Information Package
- Electronic flight bags.
Seminars
You can also attend our free AvSafety seminars.
28 Apr 2023