Definition
Risk and Resource Management is the combined practice of identifying hazards that could affect a flight, judging how serious those hazards are, taking action to reduce them, and making full use of the people, information, and equipment available to fly the aircraft safely. It brings together two related disciplines: Aeronautical Decision-Making (ADM), which is the structured process of choosing the best course of action, and Crew or Single-Pilot Resource Management, which is the use of all available resources to support that decision.
Plain English
Spotting what could go wrong on a flight, deciding how much it matters, doing something about it, and using everything and everyone available to help fly the aircraft safely.
Context Anchor
You will see this concept in preflight planning, in-flight decision-making, abnormal situations, and any discussion of pilot judgment.
Derivation
Risk comes from the Italian risco, meaning danger or chance of loss. Resource comes from the Old French resourdre, meaning to rise again or to have something to fall back on. Put together, the term captures the two halves of the skill: dealing with danger, and drawing on what you have available to handle it.
Why Pilots Care
Poor risk and resource management is a leading factor in general-aviation accidents; structured application of these principles measurably reduces pilot-error incidents and is evaluated on every checkride.
Grounding Statement
Before and during a flight, the pilot keeps asking: What could make this unsafe, and what can I use right now to make it safer?
Intuition Check
Risk and Resource Management does not mean eliminating every risk before flight. It means recognizing risks clearly and using available resources to bring them down to an acceptable level.
Example Sentence 1
Before departing into marginal weather, the pilot used Risk and Resource Management to weigh the forecast, consult Flight Service, and decide to delay the flight by two hours.
Example Sentence 2
During the long cross-country, the student pilot applied risk and resource management by requesting ATC flight following and using the autopilot to manage workload and fatigue.