What is FRAT?

A FRAT consists of a series of questions with an associated risk level. When these questions are consolidated, a total risk assessment score for the flight is attained. Assessing risk in the moment or relying on memory or instinct alone tends to fall short. The mind naturally evaluates hazards one at a time rather than accounting for how they compound, and personal motivations, like a desire to stay on schedule, can quietly bias that judgment. Documenting the assessment removes some of that pressure and gives a clearer, more complete picture of the risk involved before a decision has to be made.

For example, a FRAT might ask a pilot to rate factors such as total flight duty time, hours of rest before the flight, current weather conditions at departure and arrival, aircraft maintenance status, and runway conditions. Each factor is assigned a point value based on its level of risk. A short duty day with clear weather might contribute very little to the total score, while a red-eye flight into an airport with low visibility and a recent maintenance write-up would add significantly more. Once every factor is scored, the individual point values are added together to produce the flight's overall risk score.

Using the score, airlines may determine if that risk exceeds that airline's specified risk threshold or not, thus providing a tool that allows pilots to make informed go/no-go decisions. When a flight's score falls within an acceptable range, the pilot may proceed as planned. If the score crosses the airline's defined threshold, the FRAT typically triggers an additional layer of review, such as requiring a second pilot's sign-off, a dispatcher's approval, or a conversation with a chief pilot or director of safety before the flight is released. This added checkpoint ensures that higher-risk flights receive extra scrutiny rather than relying on a single individual's judgment alone.

In summary, after using a FRAT to assess the risk, the data collected is:

• A comprehensive risk assessment score for the flight
• A risk profile for the different phases of the flight
• Most relevant hazard and risk concerns in need of attention

These data points come together to give a holistic understanding of what specific risks a flight has and the levels of those risks before departure. Typically, the pilot in command completes the FRAT before departure, answering each risk factor based on the specific conditions of that flight, including weather, crew rest, and aircraft status, so the resulting score reflects a real-time snapshot rather than a static calculation.

Expanding to ORM for Broader Risk Coverage

More airlines are seeing the benefits that pre-task risk assessments, such as FRATs, are providing and are expanding these assessments beyond preflight operations. As part of their SMS platforms, some airlines are now ensuring that their SMS providers include an Operational Risk Management Tool (ORM) in their systems. These ORMs are structured and work very similar to that of traditional FRATs, but expand the pre-task assessments to above wing, below wing, and various other operations. For instance, a below-wing task like aircraft fueling might prompt an ORM assessment covering factors such as weather conditions, ground crew fatigue, equipment condition, and proximity to other aircraft or ground vehicles. Similarly, an above-wing task like de-icing could trigger questions about temperature, wind speed and holdover time. These integrated ORM tools allow airlines to take charge and mitigate risk in a wide variety of scenarios, ensuring that tasks are carried out in the safest way possible while avoiding costly safety incidents and accidents.

Why This Matters

FRATs and ORMs are not standalone tools. They are a practical way for airlines to apply the principles behind the four pillars of SMS in daily operations. They support Safety Risk Management by putting the hazard identification and risk evaluation described above into practice, task after task. They also feed Safety Assurance, since the scores and trends collected across many flights and tasks give safety analysts real data to monitor performance and confirm whether existing mitigations are working. And they reflect Safety Policy in action, since requiring FRATs and ORMs as part of standard procedure sends a clear signal about what leadership expects and values, enforcing a strong safety culture.

Integrating with SMS

Integrating an airline's FRAT and ORM data with its Safety Management System (SMS) allows for enhanced data-sharing, enabling airlines to cross-reference FRAT, ORM, and SMS data in a central repository quickly. This integration can also provide additional insights into an airline's organization, since the SMS can generate richer analytics and reports by incorporating both flight and ground operations data.

Integrating this data with various parts of an airline's SMS also allows other parties in the organization to make use of it. Safety Analysts, for example, can look for trends across pilots' FRAT scores and ground crews' ORM scores alike, correlating that information with safety reports. This allows for a more comprehensive overview of safety events across both flight and ground operations, which can lead to enhanced risk mitigation strategies.

None of this is possible without a flexible SMS platform behind it. SMS software that is built to easily incorporate different types of data, whether from FRATs, ORMs, hazard reports, or maintenance logs, gives airlines the ability to expand their risk assessment processes over time without needing to overhaul their entire safety infrastructure. As airlines add new pre-task assessments or extend risk management into new areas of operation, that flexibility becomes essential to keeping all of that data connected and usable rather than siloed across separate systems.

Conclusion

Utilizing pre-task assessment tools within airline SMS improves airline operations. Not only are they useful for data-driven insight to assist with pre-flight decision-making, but they also provide cross-referenceable data that can be utilized to enhance airline operations. Integrating an airline's FRAT and ORMs with its SMS is key to maximizing the utilization of these platforms’ safety data.