Plain English Meaning

When something comes up in flight, a pilot goes through three steps: notice it, think it through, then act on it and check that the action worked.

Full Definition

In aeronautical decision-making instruction, the three phases refers to the three stages a pilot moves through when handling a situation in flight: perception (recognizing that a change or problem exists), processing (evaluating what it means and deciding what to do), and performance (carrying out the chosen action and monitoring the result).

Context Anchor

Seen in aviation decision-making training, especially when an instructor is teaching a pilot how to handle changing conditions or unexpected problems.

Derivation

Phase comes from a Greek word meaning an appearance or stage. That helps here because each phase is one stage in a , not a separate subject by itself.