Plain English Meaning
What you are trying to get done on the flight, and what you believe is important enough to protect while doing it. Together they steer your decisions in the cockpit.
Full Definition
In aviation human factors and aeronautical decision making (ADM), the personal objectives a pilot is trying to achieve on a given flight (goals) and the underlying beliefs and priorities that shape how those objectives are pursued (values). Goals and values directly influence pilot judgment, risk tolerance, and the choices made before and during flight.
Context Anchor
Seen in aviation decision-making and risk-management discussions, especially when a pilot is deciding whether to start, continue, delay, or change a flight.
Derivation
Goal originally meant an endpoint or finishing place. Value comes from a word meaning worth or strength. Together, the phrase points to both the destination a person wants to reach and the priorities that guide how they try to reach it.
Why Pilots Care
Unexamined goals and values are a leading source of poor decisions. A pilot whose goal is to get home tonight may quietly downgrade weather or fatigue concerns. Naming the goal and checking it against the value of safety helps catch that drift before it becomes an accident chain.
Grounding Statement
A pilot may have the goal of reaching an airport today, but the value of safety should control whether that flight continues.
Intuition Check
Do not read this as a motivational phrase about life goals. In aviation, goals and values means the personal pressures and priorities that affect a pilot’s flight decisions.
Example Sentence 1
During the preflight risk assessment, the pilot reviewed his goals and values and admitted that finishing the trip on time was pulling against his commitment to never fly tired.
Example Sentence 2
During debrief the instructor asked how the student's goals and values influenced the choice to declare an emergency.