Flight safety and good aviation practice (flysikkerhet, Good Aviation Practice)
Flight safety and good aviation practice (flysikkerhet, Good Aviation Practice) tests threat and error management in ordinary PPL flying: pre-flight risk assessment, checklists, passenger management, weather decision-making and avoidance of classic accident traps. The exam rewards conservative, documented decisions.
Risk management
Use a simple threat-and-error management loop: identify threats (weather, terrain, unfamiliar airfield, passenger pressure), trap errors (omissions, wrong frequencies, unstable approach), and decide. Set personal minimums for ceiling, visibility, crosswind and night. Brief passengers on sterile periods, buckle-up, doors and evacuation. Use checklists at critical phases; do not rely on memory under stress.
Good aviation practice
Plan alternates and escape routes. Maintain terrain clearance and a safe abort point. Communicate position and intentions clearly. If weather deteriorates, turn back or divert early rather than “pressing on”. A go-around, diversion or cancellation is a successful outcome, not a failure.
Worked example
Forecast ceiling 1500 ft, visibility 8 km, crosswind 15 kt gusting 25 kt, and a passenger wants to reach a family event. Your personal crosswind limit is 15 kt and you are not current in gusty conditions. Reasoning: the threat is combined marginal VFR and crosswind with external pressure. Decision: cancel or use a wider, safer alternate; do not launch to “see how it goes”. Record the decision and brief the passenger.
Traps
Get-there-itis; plan continuation bias; ducking under cloud; normalising a checklist omission; and letting a passenger’s timetable override personal minimums. These are the behaviours most often behind VFR into IMC and controlled flight into terrain accidents.