Definition
The systematic process of recognizing conditions, situations, objects, or actions that have the potential to cause harm, damage, or loss during flight operations. It is the first step in risk management and forms the foundation for evaluating and mitigating risk before and during a flight.
Plain English
Spotting things that could hurt you, the aircraft, or the flight before they become a problem. You are looking for what could go wrong, so you can deal with it ahead of time.
Context Anchor
Used in flight instruction, preflight planning, and in-flight decision-making when a pilot or instructor looks for anything that could make the flight unsafe.
Derivation
Hazard comes from the Old French hasard, originally a game of dice, meaning a chance of loss. Identification comes from the Latin identificare, to recognize or establish what something is. Together: recognizing the things that put you at risk of loss.
Why Pilots Care
It forms the first step of the risk management process; missing a hazard can lead directly to an accident or incident.
Intuition Check
Hazard identification does not mean fixing the problem yet. It means first noticing and clearly naming what could make the flight unsafe.
Example Sentence 1
During preflight planning, the pilot's hazard identification flagged a low cloud ceiling, gusty crosswinds, and a short destination runway as items needing closer attention.
Example Sentence 2
During the cross-country flight the pilot used hazard identification to notice a developing line of thunderstorms ahead.