Definition
Single-Pilot Resource Management is the art and science of managing all available resources — both onboard and from outside sources — to ensure the safe and successful outcome of a flight when operating as the sole pilot. It includes the coordinated use of aeronautical decision-making, risk management, task management, automation management, situational awareness, and controlled flight into terrain awareness, applied by one pilot rather than a crew.
Plain English
When you are the only pilot in the aircraft, SRM is how you juggle everything you have available — your skills, your instruments, your checklists, ATC, weather services, and your own thinking — to keep the flight safe.
Context Anchor
You will see SRM in flight training, preflight planning, in-flight decision-making, and scenario-based instruction for pilots who may fly without another pilot beside them.
Derivation
The term adapts Crew Resource Management (CRM), originally developed for multi-pilot airline crews, to the single-pilot environment. 'Resource' is used broadly here — not just fuel or equipment, but anything that helps the pilot fly safely, including time, information, and outside help.
Why Pilots Care
Strong SRM lowers accident risk in single-pilot operations by improving awareness and reducing task overload.
Intuition Check
Do not read “single pilot” as “the pilot must do everything alone.” In SRM, the pilot is the only pilot in command, but still uses every available resource, including checklists, equipment, air traffic control, weather information, and good planning.
Example Sentence 1
Good SRM means recognising when workload is climbing and using the autopilot to free up attention for navigation and communication.
Example Sentence 2
In flight the pilot applied SRM by delegating radio calls to reduce cockpit workload during approach.