Definition
A planned course of action chosen to reduce an identified risk to an acceptable level. It can involve avoiding the risk entirely, transferring it, accepting it, or taking specific steps to lower its likelihood or its consequences before a flight or task proceeds.
Plain English
It is the plan a pilot makes to deal with a known risk so that the flight can be carried out safely, or to decide that the flight should not be made at all.
Context Anchor
Used when an instructor or pilot identifies a possible safety problem and decides what action will reduce the risk before proceeding.
Derivation
Mitigate comes from the Latin mitigare, meaning to soften or make milder. A mitigation strategy is therefore a planned way to soften the impact of a risk — not eliminate it entirely, but make it manageable.
Why Pilots Care
Choosing the right actions keeps identified hazards from turning into real problems and supports safer decision-making in every flight.
Analogy
It is like seeing that a road may be icy and deciding to slow down, take a safer route, or wait until conditions improve. The risk is still considered, but the plan makes the situation safer.
Intuition Check
Do not read this as a vague reminder to “be careful.” In this context, it means a specific action plan that reduces the chance or seriousness of a safety problem.
Example Sentence 1
After noting forecast icing along the route, the pilot's risk mitigation strategy was to delay departure until the freezing level rose above the planned cruising altitude.
Example Sentence 2
Before takeoff the instructor and student reviewed their risk mitigation strategy for the low-visibility return leg.