Definition
A risk mitigation strategy in which a hazard is removed entirely by avoiding the activity, condition, or environment that creates it. Rather than reducing the likelihood or severity of a risk, the pilot makes a decision that prevents the risk from existing at all for that flight.
Plain English
Get rid of the risk completely by not doing the thing that causes it. If flying into icing conditions is the risk, you eliminate it by not flying into icing conditions.
Context Anchor
Used in aeronautical decision-making and flight training when choosing how to handle a risk before continuing.
Derivation
From Latin eliminare, meaning 'to put out of doors' or 'remove.' In risk management, it carries that strong sense — the risk is not managed or reduced, it is removed from the picture entirely.
Why Pilots Care
Eliminating a risk is the most effective mitigation strategy because the hazard cannot affect the flight if it is not present. When a risk can be eliminated through a simple decision — delaying, rerouting, or canceling — that choice is almost always safer than trying to manage the risk in the air.
Intuition Check
Do not read eliminate as meaning “make safer” or “make less likely.” In this context, eliminate means remove that specific risk from the operation.
Example Sentence 1
The pilot eliminated the risk of thunderstorm penetration by delaying the departure until the line of storms moved through.
Example Sentence 2
Choosing a longer but well-lit route can eliminate the risk of night disorientation over dark terrain.