Flight Risk Assessment (FRAT)

The Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT) is a short safety questionnaire shown when a crew member dispatches their own flight. It follows the FAA Safety Team PAVE model — Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, External pressures — and turns the crew’s answers into a single risk score and a colour-coded risk band, so the decision to fly is made deliberately and on the record.

This article explains how to enable the FRAT, how the score and bands work, what is filled in automatically, and how it interacts with dispatch.

Enabling the gates

The FRAT and the pre-dispatch checklist are both optional and off by default. The FRAT is enabled per flight type: open Flight types, edit a type and switch on Require Flight Risk Assessment (FRAT) in the Pre-dispatch card. The pre-dispatch checklist stays a company setting under Company Settings → Flights → Pre-dispatch gates. The feature is available on the Club, Premium and Unlimited plans.

Before November 2026 the FRAT was a single company switch; companies that had it on now have it on for every one of their flight types, so nothing changed for them until they turn it off on the types that do not need it.

The Pre-dispatch card on the flight type form with the Require Flight Risk Assessment (FRAT) switch turned on — Flight types → edit → Pre-dispatch

Company Settings, Flights tab, Pre-dispatch gates: the checklist switch and a note that the FRAT is now set per flight type — Company Settings → Flights → Pre-dispatch gates keeps only the checklist and links to Flight types

Require pre-dispatch checklist — shows an acknowledgement checklist (weather, NOTAMs, aircraft status, crew documents, SOPs) that must be fully ticked before a flight can be dispatched.
Require Flight Risk Assessment (FRAT) (on the flight type) — requires a completed FRAT before a crew member can dispatch their own flight of that type; high-risk flights need a Supervisor.

You can enable either gate on its own, or both together.

When the FRAT appears

The FRAT is shown in the dispatch confirmation on the schedule view, directly under the pre-dispatch checklist. It is required only when the flight type of the booking or flight has Require Flight Risk Assessment (FRAT) on and the person dispatching is a crew member of that flight — the assigned PIC, SIC or Supervisor. Operations staff who are not assigned to the flight can dispatch without completing it.

When both gates are enabled, the crew member sees the checklist first, then the FRAT:

Dispatch confirmation showing the pre-dispatch checklist above the FRAT questionnaire — Pre-dispatch checklist and FRAT in the dispatch confirmation

When only the FRAT is enabled, the checklist is hidden:

Dispatch confirmation with the dispatch data and the completed FRAT questionnaire, risk score 8, Low risk — The FRAT on its own, on a flight type that requires it

On a flight type that does not require the FRAT, the dispatch confirmation shows only the dispatch data:

Dispatch confirmation with only the dispatch data and passenger list, no FRAT — The same dispatch on a flight type without the FRAT

Risk score and bands

Each answer carries a risk weight. As the crew member answers, the weights are summed into a Risk score shown at the top of the questionnaire, with a live risk band:

Band	Score	Meaning
Low risk (green)	10 or less	Proceed.
Medium risk (amber)	11 – 20	Review and mitigate the contributing factors before flying.
High risk (red)	More than 20	Elevated risk — a Supervisor must dispatch the flight.

High-risk flights are blocked for ordinary crew. If the assessment lands in the High band, the PIC or SIC cannot dispatch; a Supervisor must complete and dispatch the flight instead. A user dispatching as Supervisor is not blocked by the High band.

Every question must be answered before the Dispatch button is enabled.

Questions filled in automatically

To save time and improve accuracy, several objective questions are pre-answered from the dispatcher’s own flight history and the live route weather. These are only suggestions — the crew member can change any answer.

Question	Filled from
Hours flown in the last 90 days	The dispatcher’s logged flights (as PIC or SIC) over the previous 90 days.
Familiar with this aircraft type?	Hours flown on the same aircraft model over the last 12 months.
Unfamiliar departure or destination airport?	Whether the dispatcher has previously flown to or from each airport.
Night flight?	The scheduled departure time against the airport’s sunrise/sunset, plus recent night experience.
Forecast weather	The live METAR/TAF flight category for the route (Good VFR, Marginal VFR, IFR).

The remaining questions are subjective (rest, personal minimums, fuel planning, pressures) and are left for the crew member to judge.

What is saved

When the flight is dispatched, the FRAT result — the score, band and the answers — is stored against the flight. It is saved per crew member, so a single flight can carry one assessment for each person who completes one.

Summary

The FRAT helps crews make a structured, repeatable go/no-go decision before every flight by:

Scoring objective and subjective risk factors using the FAA PAVE model
Pre-filling the data-backed questions from flight history and live weather
Surfacing a clear Low / Medium / High risk band
Requiring Supervisor involvement for high-risk flights
Recording the assessment with the flight for later review