Definition
In aeronautical risk management, control decisions are the choices a pilot makes to eliminate a hazard, reduce its likelihood, or limit its severity once that hazard has been identified and assessed. They are the action step in the risk management process — what the pilot will actually do about a known risk before or during a flight.
Plain English
Once you've spotted something that could go wrong, a control decision is your plan for what to do about it — whether to remove it, reduce it, work around it, or accept it.
Context Anchor
Seen in risk-management discussions when a pilot moves from recognizing a possible problem to choosing an action.
Derivation
‘Control’ comes from the Old French ‘contrerole,’ meaning to check or verify against a record. In risk management, controlling a hazard means taking deliberate action to keep it in check rather than leaving it to chance.
Why Pilots Care
Effective control decisions prevent incidents by addressing risks before they escalate, directly contributing to safer flight outcomes.
Grounding Statement
A control decision is the “what are we going to do about it?” step after a risk has been noticed.
Intuition Check
Do not read “control decisions” as decisions about moving the aircraft controls. In this risk-management context, it means decisions about controlling risk.
Example Sentence 1
After noting low ceilings along the route, the pilot's control decision was to delay departure by two hours until conditions improved.
Example Sentence 2
Good control decisions during preflight planning can eliminate many in-flight risks before takeoff.