Aeronautical Terms
14 CFR
Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
3P
An acronym that represents the three components of the risk management cycle: Perceive, Process, Perform.
Acceptable Risk
That part of identified risk that is allowed to persist without further engineering or management action. Making this decision is a difficult yet necessary responsibility for managing activity. This decision is made with full knowledge that it is the user who is exposed to this risk.
Aeronautical Decision-making (ADM)
A systematic approach to the mental process used by aircraft pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances.
Automatic Decision-making
Quick decision-making based on experience and the expectation of a good outcome.
CARE
An acronym that represents the four risk assessment and mitigation elements: Consequences, Alternatives, Reality, and External pressures.
CAST/ICAO Common Taxonomy Team (CICTT)
A group that developed common classifications and definitions for aviation accident and incident reporting.
CFIT
Controlled Flight Into Terrain.
CFR
Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Checklist
A tool that is used as a human factors aid in aviation safety. It is a systematic and sequential list of all operations that must be performed to accomplish a task properly.
Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST)
Organization founded in 1997 to bring together various segments of the aviation community with the goal to reduce accidents through a data-driven approach.
Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)
An accident whereby an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, inadvertently flies into terrain, an obstacle, or water.
Crew Resource Management (CRM)
The application of team management concepts in the flight deck environment. CRM programs evolved to include cabin crews, maintenance personnel, and others. Pilots of small aircraft, as well as crews of larger aircraft, should make effective use of all available resources; human resources, hardware, and information. A current definition includes all groups routinely working with the flight deck crew who are involved in decisions required to operate a flight safely. These groups include, but are not limited to: pilots, dispatchers, cabin crewmembers, maintenance personnel, and air traffic controllers. CRM is one way of addressing the challenge of optimizing the human/machine interface and accompanying interpersonal activities.
CRM
Crew Resource Management.
Currency
Meeting all established requirements.
EFB
Electronic Flight Bag.
Electronic Flight Bag (EFB)
A portable or integrated device that allows the pilot to carry all necessary aeronautical and performance data, weight and balance, and aircraft checklists in digital form and may allow remote manipulation of the avionics through wireless radio connections.
Emergency
An urgent condition or distress that requires immediate attention.
Error
Deviations from intended or expected actions that are caused by the flight crew that cause confusion, increase workload, absorb attention, reduce safety margins, increase risk, and may lead to undesired aircraft states.
External Pressures
Influences external to the flight that create a sense of pressure to complete a flight—often at the expense of safety.
Flight management system (FMS)
A system normally integrated into a technically advanced aircraft that provides an efficient means of loading and programming horizontal and vertical flight path information that can be tracked by the autopilot or followed manually by the pilot using flight director and other guidance cues.
Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT)
A way to record and analyze identified hazards and risks. A FRAT can be numerical (scoring predetermined hazards) to measure risk or narrative (recording identified hazards, associate risk, and individual risk mitigations).
General Aviation
All flights other than military and scheduled airline flights, both private and commercial.
General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC)
Team of FAA and general aviation community members formed to analyze general aviation accidents and create safety enhancements that can mitigate leading accident causes.
Hazard
A present condition, event, object, or circumstance that could lead to or contribute to an unplanned or undesired event, such as an accident.
Human Behavior
The product of factors that cause people to act in predictable ways.
Human Factors
A multidisciplinary field devoted to optimizing human performance and reducing human error. It incorporates the methods and principles of the behavioral and social sciences, engineering, and physiology. It may be described as the applied science which studies people working together in concert with machines. Human factors involve variables that influence individual performance, as well as team or crew performance.
Identified Risk
The risk that has been determined through various analysis techniques. The first task of system safety is to identify, within practical limitations, all possible risks.
IMSAFE
An acronym that represents the six aeromedical risk areas: Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, and Emotion.
Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)
Rules that govern the procedure for conducting flight in weather conditions below VFR weather minimums. The term “IFR” also is used to define weather conditions and the type of flight plan under which an aircraft is operating.
Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC)
Meteorological conditions expressed in terms of visibility, distance from clouds, and ceiling less than the minimums specified for visual meteorological conditions, requiring operations to be conducted under IFR.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
An international body that sets aviation safety standards. Member states agree to formulate regulation to meet those standards.
Judgment
The mental process of recognizing and analyzing all pertinent information in a particular situation, a rational evaluation of alternative actions in response to it, and a timely decision on which action to take.
LOC-I
Loss of Control In-flight.
Loss of Control In-flight (LOC-I)
An accident caused by the pilot not maintaining control of the airplane. Many LOC-I accidents are the result of stalls, spins, or accelerated maneuvers.
Mode Annunciator
A display panel normally integrated into the primary flight display that shows the current status and operating functions of the autopilot or flight director.
Mode Controller
The interface used by the pilot to select autopilot or flight director operating modes and to engage or disengage the autopilot system.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
A United States Government independent organization responsible for investigations of accidents involving aviation, highways, waterways, pipelines, and railroads in the United States. The NTSB is charged by the Congress of the United States to investigate civil aviation accidents.
Naturalistic Decision-making
See Automatic decision-making.
Notice to Airmen (NOTAM)
A notice filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of any hazards en route or at a specific location. The authority in turn provides means of disseminating relevant NOTAMs to pilots.
PAVE
An acronym that represents the four risk identification areas: Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, and External pressures.
Personality
The embodiment of personal traits and characteristics of an individual that are set at a very early age and are extremely resistant to change.
Pilot Report (PIREP)
Report of meteorological phenomena encountered by aircraft.
PIREP
Pilot Report.
Probable Cause
The defining event that directly leads to an accident.
Proficiency
Possessing a high standard of competence or expertise.
Qualification
Having the certificates, ratings, endorsements, or other designations required for the operation.
Residual Risk
The remaining risk after system safety efforts have been fully employed. It is not necessarily the same as acceptable risk. Residual risk is the sum of acceptable risk and unidentified risk. This is the total risk passed on to the user.
Risk
The future impact of a hazard that is not eliminated or controlled.
Risk Assessment
An approach to managing uncertainty. Risk assessment is a quantitative value assigned to a task, action, or event.
Risk Assessment Matrix
A tool used to see the relationship between risk likelihood and risk severity to determine an overall level of risk, measured as low, medium, serious, or high.
Risk Likelihood
The probability of encountering risk categorized as probable, occasional, remote, or improbable.
Risk Management
The part of the decision-making process which relies on situational awareness, problem recognition, and good judgment to reduce risks associated with each flight.
Risk Mitigation
The process of reducing risk likelihood and severity to lower levels.
Risk Severity
The magnitude of consequences of risk categorized as catastrophic, critical, marginal, or negligible.
Root Cause
The underlying reason that leads the pilot or aircraft toward the probable cause of an accident.
Safety Management System (SMS)
The application of special technical and managerial skills to the systematic, forward-looking identification and control of hazards throughout the life cycle of a project, program, or activity.
Single-pilot Resource Management (SRM)
The art/science of managing all the resources (both on board the aircraft and from outside sources) available to a single pilot (before and during flight) to ensure that the successful outcome of the flight is never in doubt.
Situational Awareness
Perception of variables in the environment, comprehension of their meaning, and projection of their status in the near future.
SMS
Safety Management System.
SRM
Single-pilot Resource Management.
Stress
The body’s response to demands placed upon it.
System component failure of the powerplant (SCF-PP)
An accident caused by failure of an engine component that may lead to complete failure of the engine.
TAA
Technically Advanced Airplane
TEAM (or TEMA)
An acronym that represents the four risk mitigation process steps: Transfer, Eliminate, Accept, and Mitigate (or Transfer, Eliminate, Mitigate, and Accept).
Technically Advanced Airplane (TAA)
An airplane equipped with an electronically advanced avionics system.
Threat
Hazards present in the environment or that are outside the influence of the flight crew that increase operational complexity and may lead to errors.
Threat and Error Management (TEM)
A risk management methodology designed to anticipate and prevent threats from creating errors, trap errors before they cause undesired aircraft states, and mitigate undesired aircraft states to stop an incident or accident from occurring.
Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR)
Includes what was formerly known as the Federal Aviation Regulations governing the operation of aircraft, airways, and airmen.
Total Risk
The sum of identified and unidentified risks.
Unacceptable Risk
The risk that cannot be tolerated by the managing activity. It is a subset of identified risk that must be eliminated or controlled.
Undesirable Risk
A tolerable risk that must be prepared for and mitigated as best as possible.
Unidentified Risk
Risk not yet identified. Some unidentified risks are subsequently identified when a mishap occurs. Some risk is never known.
Visual Flight Rules (VFR)
Code of Federal Regulations that govern the procedures for conducting flight under visual conditions.
Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC)
Meteorological conditions expressed in terms of visibility, distance from cloud, and ceiling meeting or exceeding the minimums specified for VFR.
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