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Aviation Hazard Perception Test

Introduction

Hazard perception is the recognition of conditions that may pose threats to the safety of flight. Recognizing hazards early is important since it gives you time to react or plan appropriate defensive action well before any actual danger materializes.

A hazard may be defined as anything of actual or potential danger that may require you to change your aircraft’s altitude, airspeed, heading, route of flight, or configuration in order to maintain safety of flight. Hazards can be caused by:

  • Actions taken (or not taken) by the pilot
  • Knowledge or skill deficiencies of the pilot
  • Weather conditions
  • Aircraft performance or configuration
  • People (or other aircraft) outside the aircraft
  • People or cargo on board the aircraft
  • Combinations of two or more of these factors.

Instructions


You are about to see a series of short videos depicting a flight in a general aviation aircraft.

As you view the videos look for any hazards that may be present. After each video, we will show you a list of factors that could have presented a hazard. You will then rate their severity on a scale of 0 to 5, to indicate to extent to which each factor represented a hazard.

  • 0 – This factor did not present a hazard
  • 1 – This factor presented a very slight hazard
  • 2 – This factor presented a slight hazard
  • 3 – This factor presented a moderate hazard
  • 4 – This factor presented a severe hazard
  • 5 – This factor presented a very severe hazard


For example, you might see a video in which a relatively inexperienced pilot without an instrument rating elects to take off for a short cross-country flight in marginal VFR conditions. In such an instance, you might decide that the pilot’s lack of experience in flying in these conditions presents a moderate hazard. Further, you might decide that the environmental conditions (ceiling height and visibility) also present moderate or even severe hazards. However, since the aircraft had a more than adequate supply of fuel on board, you might decide that fuel did not present a hazard.

Before you begin the actual test, you will watch an example video, and we will show you examples of how the factors for that video might be rated.

After you watch a video you will be given feedback -- showing how your ratings compared to the ratings of a panel of experts. You can then review the video, go on the the next video, or quit. There are a total of ten videos.