Definition
Planned actions, procedures, or safeguards put in place to reduce the likelihood or severity of an identified risk during a flight or training activity.
Plain English
Steps you decide on ahead of time to make a known risk smaller, less likely, or easier to handle if it happens.
Context Anchor
Seen when building or following a training syllabus, especially where lessons identify risks and describe how the instructor and student will handle them.
Derivation
From Latin mitigare, meaning 'to soften' or 'to make milder.' A mitigation strategy is a planned way of softening a risk so its impact is reduced.
Why Pilots Care
Effective mitigation strategies prevent student frustration and dropout by resolving confusion before it builds.
Intuition Check
Mitigation does not mean pretending the risk is gone. It means choosing clear actions that reduce the chance or impact of the risk.
Example Sentence 1
After noting that the destination airport had no fuel available, the pilot's mitigation strategy was to plan a fuel stop at a nearby field with reliable service.
Example Sentence 2
By including extra ground lessons on key concepts, the syllabus incorporated mitigation strategies for students who lacked prior aviation experience.