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information before a pilot. For example, precipitation is often visible on the chase vehicles long before it compromises a balloon’s inflight performance or gains a pilot’s attention. The crew can also warn a pilot who is contour flying into the sun of power lines downwind or of livestock behind trees or buildings. A crew report on the current state of variable surface conditions can alert a pilot who is descending or landing into winds different from those of launch or flight. Crew action can easily mean the difference between a safe flight and an accident. 

The essential and decisive roles crew and other human resources play in ballooning also create an ironic dilemma/ dynamic between legal and operational realities. 14 CFR part 91 requires a pilot to act as the sole and final authority regarding operation of the balloon, yet every pilot must rely on crew who are not trained, certified, or even recognized by any governing body for a flight to occur. Each pilot thus requires and leads this integral, yet legally invisible team on each flight. Overlooking, minimizing, or dismissing the crew’s role opens the door to mishaps. Safety often lies in recognizing how the crew’s skill, knowledge, and experience complement and enhance the pilot’s own. While all final decisions and the responsibility for safety still rest with the pilot, this broader than usual SRM model recognizes the human resources upon which every pilot relies for safe flight planning and decision-making. 

## Risk Management 

Flying involves risk. To stay safe, a pilot needs to know how to judge the level of risk, how to minimize it, and when to accept it. The risk management decision path is best seen through the Perceive-Process-Perform model [Figure 1-7] which offers a structured way to manage risk. 

Perceive hazards by looking at: 

• Pilot experience, currency, condition; 

• Aircraft performance, fuel; 

• Environment (weather, terrain); and 

• External factors. 

Process risk level by considering: 

• Consequences posed by each hazard, 

• Alternatives that eliminate hazards, 

• Reality (avoid wishful thinking), and 

• External factors (get-home-itus). 

Perform risk management: 

• Transfer—can someone be consulted? 

• Eliminate—can hazards be removed? 

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• Accept—do benefits outweigh risk? 

• Mitigate—can the risk be reduced? 

During each flight, decisions must be made regarding events that involve interactions between the four risk elements—the pilot in command, the aircraft, the environment, and the operation. [Figure 1-8] One of the most important decisions a pilot in command makes is the go/no-go decision. Evaluating each of these risk elements can help a pilot decide whether a flight should be conducted or continued. Below is a review of the four risk elements and how they affect decision-making. 

• Pilot—a pilot must continually make decisions about his or her competency, condition of health, mental and emotional state, level of fatigue, etc. For example, a pilot may plan for an early morning flight after an all night drive, which means little sleep. Tired, achy, congested from the beginnings of a cold, is that pilot safe to fly? 

• Balloon—a pilot frequently bases decisions on the evaluations of the balloon, such as performance, equipment, or airworthiness. A pilot is on an afternoon flight in a rural area. Landing areas are becoming sparse because the terrain is mostly swampland. The wind is decreasing and sunset is only half and hour away. Should he or she continue to fly over this terrain? 

• Environment—this encompasses many elements not pilot or balloon related. It includes, but is not limited to, such factors as weather, terrain, launch and landing areas, and surrounding obstacles. Weather is one element that can change drastically over time and 

