Introducing: FAAST FRAT

Introducing: FAAST FRAT

The General Aviation Joint Steering Committee is a government / industry group that analyzes GA accidents and incidents. The Committee feels that improved risk assessment before and during flight can significantly improve pilots’ chances of avoiding accidents and incidents. There are many ways to identify potential hazards associated with flight and to assess the likelihood (risk) that identified and unmitigated hazards could cause an accident or incident. This is the basis for Safety Risk Management.

Some pilots use a Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT) to assess the risk associated with hazards common to their missions. FRATS help pilots to see the potential hazards they may encounter and they assist them in devising effective ways to deal with those hazards.

No FRAT can anticipate all the hazards that may impact a particular flight but there are some common hazards that General Aviation Pilots encounter regularly. Your FAA Safety Team has produced an easy to use FRAT that will get you started in effective Safety Risk Management.

The FAAST FRATs are simple automated spread sheets that will run on MS Windows or Apple computer operating systems. All you have to do is download the appropriate file for your computer and you’re in business. VFR Pilots will consider which of 20 flight, pilot, and aircraft conditions apply to a contemplated flight. IFR Pilots have 22 conditions to consider. Each condition is assigned a numerical value and those values are continuously totaled. Simply click the Yes Box next to each condition that applies to your flight. Once all conditions have been considered the total value is compared to values on a risk matrix chart.

If you’re not comfortable with the level of risk identified; simply mitigate the risk by adjusting conditions to improve your chances for a safe and enjoyable flight.

Once you begin to use the FAAST FRAT,it’s likely that you will think of additional hazards that may apply to your flight. That’s to be expected and it means you’re taking an active role in Safety Risk Management. Just think of each hazard you identify as a potential liability. Offset your liabilities with assets (decisions) that reduce or eliminate them and you keep your safety account in balance. We hope you enjoy your FAAST FRAT and we welcome your feedback.

Your FAA Safety Team

Making a difference for General Aviation Safety

The National FAA Safety Team values your input. We would appreciate your input using the website below.

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/stakeholder_feedback/afs/field/sf_faas team/