Definition
The exposure to potential harm, loss, or unsafe outcome arising from a combination of hazards present in a planned or ongoing flight, including factors related to the pilot, aircraft, environment, and the nature of the operation.
Plain English
The chance that something on this flight could go wrong, taking into account the pilot, the aircraft, the weather and route, and what the flight is being done for.
Context Anchor
Used during preflight planning, in-flight decision-making, and postflight review when deciding whether a flight is safe enough to begin or continue.
Derivation
Flight comes from the idea of moving through the air. Risk comes from older words meaning danger or possible loss. In aviation, risk is not just a feeling that something is unsafe; it is the chance that something could go wrong and how serious the result could be.
Why Pilots Care
Identifying flight risk before takeoff is what allows a pilot to manage or eliminate it. Flights that go wrong rarely fail because of a single problem — they fail because several smaller risks were not noticed and added up. Assessing flight risk is the habit that breaks that chain.
Intuition Check
Do not read flight risk as the legal phrase meaning someone likely to run away. In this aviation context, it means the safety danger connected with a planned or ongoing flight.
Example Sentence 1
After reviewing the weather, his fatigue level, and the unfamiliar destination, the pilot judged the flight risk too high and rescheduled for the next morning.
Example Sentence 2
Rising winds increased the flight risk enough that the pilot chose to delay until conditions improved.