FRATs in Action: Strengthening Safety Culture and SMS
For small Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) parts 91, 135, 145, or 121 operators, implementing and maintaining your Safety Management System (SMS) with a small team can feel overwhelming, especially when it’s layered on top of existing duties. As 14 CFR part 5 makes clear, though, SMS isn’t optional, and it’s not just for big operations.
Here’s the good news: SMS is scalable. Under part 5, you’re expected to tailor your SMS to fit the size, scope, and complexity of your operation—meaning you don’t need complicated software or a full‑time safety manager to meet the rule’s intent. What you do need, however, is a structured, consistent approach to identifying, evaluating, and managing operational risk: one that supports daily decision making and reinforces a strong safety culture. With a few tools and a mindset shift, small teams can integrate an effective SMS into their daily operations without slowing them down.
This edition of our SMS Quick Takes blog series focuses on how a simple Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT) can enhance your overall SMS.
FRATs in Action: Operationalizing SMS Principles
A FRAT is intended to support informed, safety‑conscious flight planning, not to make go/no‑go decisions for the pilot. As emphasized in FAA guidance, a FRAT helps users think systematically about potential hazards and encourages proactive risk mitigation before departure.
When used consistently, a FRAT serves as a structured, operational risk‑management tool that contributes to a risk‑aware operating environment. It prompts evaluation of key risk factors and helps flightcrews determine whether additional precautions, changes, or resources are warranted.
A FRAT should be used alongside preflight planning materials, operational guidance, and professional judgment, and when integrated into daily operations, it can reinforce all four components of an SMS under part 5, without replacing the critical thinking and decision‑making responsibility of the pilot in command.
“A FRAT isn’t simply a checklist—it’s a powerful example of how even a small operator can implement an effective, repeatable, and culture-reinforcing SMS tool.”
Safety Policy: Reinforcing Expectations
Your safety policy sets the tone for operational behavior, and using a FRAT shows your organization values risk‑based decision making and empowers frontline personnel to assess and mitigate risk before each flight.
When included in your Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) or policy references, it becomes part of how you model and communicate safety expectations. When leadership supports and expects FRAT use, it reinforces the just culture and decision authority your safety policy should represent.
Safety Risk Management (SRM): Applying the Process in Real Time
As noted earlier, a FRAT is not a substitute for the full SRM process required for system‑level changes, under § 5.55; however, it remains a practical, scalable way to apply SRM principles in daily flight operations.
Used consistently, a FRAT enables flightcrews to—
Identify operational hazards (for example, fatigue, weather, unfamiliar airports);
Assess risks using a structured scoring model; and
Apply mitigations when risk thresholds are exceeded.
This aligns with the intent of § 5.51(c), which encourages operators to develop procedures that support proactive hazard identification and risk control as part of their everyday decision making.
Safety Assurance: Gathering Usable Data
A documented FRAT log gives you a repeatable, low‑burden way to track operational risk trends.
Which hazards show up most often?
Are mitigations working?
Are risk scores improving over time?
When FRAT scores and mitigations are documented and reviewed over time, they help close the loop on safety performance monitoring: revealing trends and validating whether risk controls are working.
Safety Promotion: Keeping the Conversation Going
FRATs offer training value and culture reinforcement by—
Helping new pilots understand what “risk‑based thinking” looks like,
Promoting self‑awareness and proactive behavior, and
Creating shared language around operational risk.
They also reinforce the safety messaging delivered in training and during safety meetings, especially when FRAT‑log trends are used to highlight real‑world risks associated with specific routes, destinations, or airport environments. Sharing this information helps flightcrews connect training concepts to actual operational conditions and encourages continuous learning.
FRATs support a safety culture where pilots feel empowered to speak up and take appropriate action because they’ve been trained to think ahead.
The FRAT
Although every flight carries some level of risk, a FRAT helps operators and pilots identify and evaluate operational risk factors during flight planning and encourages mitigation when those risks approach or exceed acceptable thresholds.
Operators should define their own thresholds based on aircraft, crew, environment, and operational context. If risks can’t be mitigated to an acceptable level, the flight should not proceed (see Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Information for Operators (InFO) 07015 and AC 120–92D, Appendix G).
FAA guidance emphasizes a structured, repeatable process, such as a FRAT, helps pilots and operators spot evolving threats early and respond proactively before high‑risk situations escalate into serious incidents (see FAA Safety Team (FAAST): Flight Risk Assessment Tools, which includes a downloadable Microsoft Excel FRAT, and FRAT FAAST, which includes a web‑based FRAT).
Pro Tip: Effective mitigations often involve procedural changes, departure delays, or consulting a supervisor, chief pilot, or mentor. They help eliminate the phrase, “It will probably be okay,” from your aviation vocabulary, replacing it with a structured, risk‑informed approach.
Online FRAT
Try our online Flight Risk Assessment Tool.
Downloadable FRAT Badges
We’ve provided two versions of the FRAT Badge.
Printable PDF: Designed for at‑home printing, trimming, and folding to fit a standard ID‑badge holder (CR–80); about the size of a credit card.
Print Shop‑Ready Version: A high‑resolution layout suitable for professional printing on paper or plastic ID‑badge inserts. Just take the front and back side images to your local print or office supply shop.
These tools are designed to be practical, scalable, and mobile‑friendly. Whether they’re used on a tablet in the field or printed as a badge insert, they fit easily into today’s flight planning workflows—much like the mobile FRAT apps mentioned on page 6 of FAA Safety Briefing guidance.
Use these tools to:
Score operational factors (fatigue, weather, and complexity, etc.),
Apply and document standard mitigations,
Record FRAT results and trends in your flight log,
Reinforce SRM and safety assurance in daily operations, and
Support a proactive safety culture.
These tools are especially helpful for single‑ or two‑pilot flight departments where SRM must be fast, consistent, and easily implemented.
The FAA also highlights the value of documenting, not just thinking through, flight risk assessments. Recording risks helps reduce cognitive bias, clarify cumulative risk, and establish clearer boundaries during decision‑making, especially under time pressure. Using tools like our FRAT spreadsheet reinforces a more objective, structured approach to risk management.
“SMS is scalable. You don’t need complicated software or a full-time safety manager to meet the rule’s intent.”
Final Thoughts: One Tool, Four Impacts
FRATs are not intended to make go/no‑go decisions; instead, they help flightcrews and operators understand and manage risk more effectively within the context of their procedures, training, and regulatory responsibilities.
The FRAT isn’t simply a checklist—it’s a powerful example of how even a small operator can implement an effective, repeatable, and culture‑reinforcing SMS tool. It touches all four pillars of your SMS, which means it:
Aligns with your policy,
Supports real‑time risk management,
Feeds assurance data, and
Promotes a positive, proactive safety culture.
Most importantly: it works—when used well, FRATs bring your SMS to life, one flight at a time.
Next Step
Try these tools out during your next flight. Need help customizing either tool for your operation? Tell us in the comments or Contact us at PAI Consulting. We’re happy to assist.
Do you have questions or concerns about SMS? Share them with us!
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Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not the opinion of PAI Consulting. In addition, this article may contain links to third-party websites. PAI Consulting does not endorse or make any representations about them, or any information, software, or other products or materials found there, or any results that may be obtained from using them.
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