PLT551: Flight Risk Assessment Tools
What code PLT551 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Flight Risk Assessment Tools before your checkride.
Recall risk management - FRATs
What this means for your checkride
A flight risk assessment tool (FRAT) turns risk management into a checklist that scores the risk of a specific flight from factors like pilot fitness, weather, the aircraft, and external pressure. The score flags when risk is high enough to require mitigation or a no-go, making the assessment objective rather than a gut feeling.
A FRAT gives a structured, repeatable risk decision, so the FAA tests its purpose and use.
Pilots think a FRAT is bureaucratic paperwork. It is a fast, objective way to catch an accumulation of small risks that individually seem fine but together push a flight past a safe threshold.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.