Definition
A structured self-evaluation tool, developed jointly by the FAA and industry partners, that helps a pilot assess personal readiness and weather-related risk before a flight. It typically uses a checklist or scoring approach covering pilot fitness, experience, currency, aircraft suitability, environment, and external pressures, and produces a go/no-go indication or a flag for further consideration.
Plain English
A short pre-flight worksheet that asks honest questions about you and the weather, then helps you decide whether the flight is a good idea today.
Context Anchor
Seen in pilot self-assessment, preflight planning, and risk management discussions in training.
Why Pilots Care
It gives pilots a repeatable way to catch personal or weather issues early, lowering the chance of an accident caused by overlooked hazards.
Grounding Statement
Before a flight, the guide helps the pilot look at both the person flying and the weather they will fly in, instead of judging only the airplane or the route.
Intuition Check
Do not read “risk assessment” as just a feeling that something is risky. In this context, it means a deliberate check of specific factors that can make a flight unsafe.
Example Sentence 1
Before the cross-country, she filled out the FAA/Industry Training Standards Personal and Weather Risk Assessment Guide and noticed her fatigue and the marginal ceilings together pushed the flight into a higher-risk category.
Example Sentence 2
The instructor asked the student to complete the FAA/Industry Training Standards Personal and Weather Risk Assessment Guide before every cross-country flight.