Definition 1 of 2
Definition
The possibility of loss, damage, injury, or an undesired outcome resulting from a hazard. In aviation, risk is generally understood as the combination of how likely a hazard is to cause harm and how severe that harm would be.
Plain English
The chance that something could go wrong, and how bad it would be if it did.
Context Anchor
Pilots meet this term in preflight planning, weather decisions, aircraft condition checks, and go/no-go decisions.
Derivation
From the Italian 'risco' (later 'rischio'), meaning danger or peril, which entered French and English in the 1600s. The word originally carried the sense of 'running into danger,' which is exactly how pilots use it today: not just the hazard itself, but the act of exposing yourself to it.
Why Pilots Care
Accurate risk assessment lets pilots decide whether to fly, adjust plans, or add mitigations that keep flights within safe limits.
Grounding Statement
If the weather is getting worse, the airplane has a small problem, or the pilot is tired, risk is the extra chance of trouble those conditions add to the flight.
Intuition Check
Risk does not mean something bad has already happened. It means there is a chance of a bad result if the situation is not handled well.
Example Sentence 1
After reviewing the weather, the pilot decided the risk of icing was too high and delayed the flight.
Example Sentence 2
High traffic density increased the risk of a mid-air collision near the airport.