Managing Flying Risk Guidance BGA Jan 15
MANAGING FLYING RISK GUIDANCE
The British Gliding Association, which includes all member clubs, is committed to safe practices with the objective of facilitating a sport gliding environment where the levels of risk to participants are as low as reasonably practicable and where third parties are not affected by the activity. This is achieved through the implementation of an effective safety management system and a process of continuous improvement.
The BGA gives priority to continuing to reduce the fatal accident rate, to not harming any third parties and to avoiding any airspace infringements. The BGA has an open reporting culture that encourages free and frank reporting within a just culture.
Contents: 1. Culture 2. BGA Safety Management System (SMS) 3. Personal Safety 4. Use of traffic and collision warning systems 5. Preparation for Flight 6. NOTAMs 7. Recency / Currency 8. Weather 9. Passenger Care 10. Supervision 11. Reporting Accidents and Incidents 12. Club Internal Incident Reporting
1. Culture
The most effective and strategic way to maintain a safe operation is to ensure that the Association has a positive safety culture. Safety culture is the ‘way of operating’ within the organisation that influences safe behaviours and consists of shared beliefs, practices and attitudes.
The ultimate ambition is for everyone in the organisation to feel responsible for helping to avoid unsafe practices, and to consider the impact on safety of their own activities. Instructors, introductory flight pilots, inspectors, and others in key positions need to ensure their decisions are made with an awareness of the safety implications. By changing a way of operating, it may be possible to avoid a hazard becoming an accident.
A positive safety culture is generated from the ‘top down’ and relies on a high degree of trust, respect and communication between all elements of the organisation. Everyone involved must believe without doubt that they will be supported in any decisions made in the interests of safety.
2. BGA Safety Management System (SMS)
By adopting a Safety Management System that meets the needs of its clubs and the sport, the BGA aims to move beyond the traditional reactionary systems to try to anticipate areas

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of exposure and change ways of working to reduce the frequency of particular kinds of accident. The BGA Safety Management System manual is available on the BGA website at www.gliding.co.uk
3. Personal Safety
Pilots under training are supervised and supported by instructors. Qualified pilots, ie pilots who hold a valid licence or BGA Bronze Endorsement with Cross Country Endorsement, are responsible for managing their own exposure to risk, subject to club requirements. If the pilot is carrying a passenger, the pilots’ responsibility extends to the passenger too.
Pilots are encouraged to seek advice from their CFI or another senior instructor. Periodic refresher training is an excellent method of confirming appropriate skills remain in place, for example spinning, or ‘field landing’ refresher training in a motor glider. Pilots should remember that two instructional flights in 24 months form part of the SPL/LAPL(S) recency requirement.
There are very few new hazards in gliding. It is possible to suggest a prescription for a safe glider pilot:
 Maintains effective lookout at all times  Can cope with launch failures at any height  Does not stall or spin inadvertently  Can land very accurately in the chosen place  Understands the operating environment  Selects a field in good time  Takes care on the ground
4. Use of traffic and collision warning systems
The BGA encourages the widespread use of traffic and collision-warning systems in gliders, motor gliders and tugs. FLARM is an increasingly popular system. Pilots should make their own decision on equipage based on compatibility with other systems and as to whether such a system is appropriate for their particular operation. Pilots are reminded that whilst electronic collision warning equipment can enhance pilots' awareness by providing most useful warnings, such equipment cannot and must not replace a good systematic visual lookout scan, and that it is necessary to avoid any in-cockpit equipment from distracting from the visual lookout scan.
5. Preparation for Flight
Shortcomings in preparing a glider for flight can be lethal and are completely avoidable. Preparation for flight includes assembling aircraft for flight, carrying out a daily inspection and carrying out pre-flight checks.
Rigging Many privately owned gliders are assembled before flight. The assembly of a glider including the associated control connections is known as ‘rigging’. A glider should be rigged in accordance with the instructions provided in the Flight Manual or similar document. Rigging

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can take time and can involve a number of people. Distraction is a common cause of error when rigging gliders.
Please ensure: a) Rigging is directed by a person experienced on the type, in accordance with the flight manual, without interruption or distraction b) The DI is conducted by a person experienced on the type, without interruption or distraction c) The pilot carries out proper pre-flight checks, again without interruption or distraction
6. NOTAMS
Failure to fly with due regard to Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) can easily result in hazardous situations. The CAA may prosecute pilots for dangerous flying. Clubs must ensure that pilots have access to current navigational information concerning temporary hazards and permanent changes. A number of online applications provide the necessary information in an easily digestible format.
Pilots are advised to carefully consider NOTAM information before flight. If in doubt, seek advice.
7. Recency / Currency
SPL/LAPL(S) holders are subject to recency requirements. Beyond any legally established minima, CFI’s may decide what additional level of recency (or currency) is appropriate to any given situation at their site. All pilots should think about their recency/currency in light of the conditions on the day. The Pilot Currency Barometer at www.gliding.co.uk is helpful.
8. Weather
Pilots are advised to think carefully about the weather conditions before and during flight. If in doubt, seek advice.
The BGA has identified occasions where perceived operational pressure has led to flying taking place in unsuitable weather conditions. It is recommended that:
 Weather forecasting information is available to pilots flying at the site  A suitable wind marker is located on the site. A wind sock mounted on a
pole is ideal.  Any minimum recommended cloud base, minimum visibility and last landing
times appropriate to flying at the site are promulgated
9. Passenger Care
Unless they are an Instructor or an authorised Introductory Flight Pilot, many qualified pilots are unused to flying with a passenger in a glider. It is likely that over 30% of a pilot’s capacity is absorbed simply by the presence of a passenger. Passenger flying is usually subject to

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local arrangements and pilots should check the detail with their CFI. The following guidance reflects the need to minimise risk to a (consenting) passenger:
The pilot in command of the flight should satisfy him or herself that the aircraft, the weather, the launching conditions and the pilot’s personal preparation and experience are suitable for the flight
The pilot in command should ensure that the person requesting the flight is fully briefed. The briefing should include a description of the main risks, actions to be taken in the event of an emergency and precautions to be taken in the cockpit environment, including potential loose articles
DO NOT LAUNCH WITH (OR WITHOUT) A PASSENGER IF:  Launching into cloud  Launching in rain, or if the flight is likely to be in flown in rain  Launching with rain/snow/ice on the glider  Launching with misted canopy 
RE-CONSIDER CARRYING A PASSENGER IF:  The wind is turbulent (varying by more than 10 kts) or strong (> 20 kts)  Cloud base is less than 1200’  Flight visibility is poor  Launching above more than 4/8th cloud  Launching into a very busy sky
10. Supervision
Supervision is all about making sure something is done correctly. In a gliding context, this often means making sure the level of risk is maintained at a reasonable level. The experience level of supervisors and their ability to influence others are important. The CFI can delegate responsibility to the clubs instructors. Differing levels of supervision can be delegated to differing levels of instructor experience. In all instances, subject to applicable law the CFI remains accountable for the supervision and maintenance of flying standards at his or her club.
Supervision of club flying activities Although qualified pilots are responsible for managing their own risk, the BGA is aware that different gliding sites, meteorological conditions and other factors will influence the minimum level of experience appropriate to flying on any given day. Clubs should ensure that adequate guidance is in place to meet those circumstances. Guidance on operating a mixed gliding and motor gliding operation is included in the BGA Motor Glider handbook at www.gliding.co.uk – a key issue here is maintaining adequate separation between cables/ropes and motor gliders.
Instructor in Charge Ideally, but not necessarily, all club flying should take place under the direct on site supervision of a suitably experienced instructor. Where an unqualified pilot is flying, an

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appropriately qualified instructor has to supervise that pilot. An instructor should not be used in any supervisory role until they have been specifically prepared for the additional responsibilities. The Instructor in charge probably cannot personally deal with all the required supervision tasks during the flying day and it is his or her responsibility to ensure that other instructors or suitably experienced pilots assisting with supervision have themselves been briefed and agree on the key issues of the day, eg airfield usage, weather, airspace, etc.
Early Cross-Country Flights A pilot intent on setting off on an early cross-country should be individually briefed by a suitably experienced instructor. The pilot should ‘brief’ the instructor on at least the likely route with airspace and navigation being of primary interest.
The weather for setting off and the state of the fields should be thoroughly reviewed.
If the pilot intends to make use of GPS as a navigation aid (which must be in conjunction with a current chart), his or her understanding of his system should be established.
Recency SPL/LAPL(S) holders are subject to recency requirements.
Beyond any legally established minima, CFI’s may decide what additional level of recency (or currency) is appropriate to any given situation at their site.
Visiting Pilots As visiting pilots are likely to have a wide range of backgrounds, material covering the main site specific flying risks should be readily available in the form of a published ‘site risks’ document. Specific guidance on the intricacies of flying from a site, particularly those sites of a more demanding nature, might be covered in a visiting pilots briefing note. Ideally this information should be available via the host club’s web-site so that the potential visitors can brief themselves ahead of any visit.
Irrespective of the scope and content of the various publications, visitors should have access before flying to suitable briefing information describing the site’s key challenges.
11. Reporting Incidents and Accidents
Although incidents and accidents should ideally not occur, it’s a fact of life that they do. The BGA safety management system manual identifies how reporting of incidents and accidents by pilots and instructors provides vital data that supports efforts to minimise risk in our sport. A reported incident where fortunately nothing was damaged, but easily could have, might help to avoid a future accident just waiting to occur in similar circumstances.
Helpful details are described in the BGA publication ‘Accident reporting requirements’.
12. Club Internal Incident Reporting
This BGA safety management system manual describes how clubs can report and review those additional incidents that are not required to be reported under the established BGA

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incident & accident reporting system. Club level internal incident reporting systems are great for identifying risks at clubs and establishing a process through which significant risks are recognised and addressed by the club. There are effectively three stages to the process:
a) Reporting b) Follow Up c) Recording.
a) Reporting Establishing a reporting culture is the key to success here. Experience at a number of BGA clubs who already have a club incident reporting system demonstrates that the CFI will need to arrange for the club safety officer, instructors, and other members to actively supply him with incident information. The BGA can provide clubs with a simple club incident reporting template, but it's entirely up to a club to decide how these incidents will be reported at the club, eg by email or hard copy to the CFI or Safety Officer. Clubs that currently carry out club level incident reporting experience around 25 or so reports per year. That's a few per month at the most.
b) Follow Up Reports describe what happened. The next step is to decide what, if anything needs to be done about it. Clubs need to periodically consider the reported club incidents and identify which, if any, are significant enough because of their potential impact and frequency of occurrence to require positive mitigating action within the club. That action needs to be recorded.
The club incident reporting template should include 'mitigating action taken'. That might be 'nil' in many one-off, insignificant cases. In other significant cases, it could be an extensive action including publishing or modifying advice for club & visiting pilots.
What type of incidents should be reported as club incidents? Examples of incidents best handled by the club are illustrated below:
 Inadequate DI  Potential collision taking off or landing  Hazardous circuit or approach  Poor handling  Ground-loop without damage  Poor parking/ ground collision risk  Hangar rash  Pedestrians on the airfield  Out of date or incomplete paperwork  Airmanship issues
c) Recording The reports, including any mitigating action, ideally need to be recorded by the club using as a minimum the detail within the club’s incident report template.
End.