Definition
A principle of risk management stating that risk decisions must be made by the person who has the authority, experience, and accountability to accept the risk and act on it. Routine, low-consequence risks can be handled by the pilot or instructor on the spot, while higher-consequence risks require escalation to someone with the authority and broader perspective to decide.
Plain English
The person making the call about a risk should be the right person to make it. Small risks can be handled by you. Bigger risks should be passed up to someone with more authority and a wider view of the situation.
Context Anchor
Used in aviation risk management when deciding whether a flight, lesson, maneuver, or training condition is safe enough to continue.
Why Pilots Care
Places decisions with those closest to the situation so actions remain timely, informed, and effective, reducing delays and errors that occur when authority is mismatched to knowledge.
Analogy
It is like a new employee not approving a major safety change alone. The person closest to the problem can notice it, but the person with the right authority must help decide what to do.
Intuition Check
Do not read “level” as altitude here. It means the proper level of authority, experience, or responsibility for the decision.
Example Sentence 1
When the student noticed a minor squawk during preflight, the instructor handled it directly, but the decision to dispatch the aircraft into deteriorating weather was escalated to the chief flight instructor.
Example Sentence 2
During a training flight the instructor delegated the final go/no-go call to the student once it was clear the student possessed the required knowledge and authority for that segment.