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Risk Management
The ACS element that evaluates how a pilot identifies, assesses, and mitigates hazards before and during flight. Risk management sits alongside aeronautical knowledge and skill elements in each ACS task and is central to ADM tools such as personal minimums and go/no-go decisions.
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Learn more in Private Pilot License →Related Terms
- RNAV (Area Navigation)A method of navigation that allows aircraft to fly on any desired flight path within the coverage of referenced navigation signals or within the limits of self-contained system capability (GPS). RNAV approaches are the most common GPS-based instrument approaches.
- Rotation PointThe location on the runway where a departing aircraft lifts the nose to become airborne. For wake turbulence avoidance, AIM guidance recommends rotating before a larger preceding aircraft's rotation point when departing behind it, or landing well before that point when landing after a larger departure on the same runway.
- Rotor CloudA turbulent, often ragged cloud that can form beneath a mountain wave on the lee side of a ridge. Rotor clouds mark severe low-level turbulence and are treated as a hard warning to avoid the area rather than attempt to outclimb or cross nearby terrain.
- Sectional ChartAn aeronautical chart used for VFR navigation that depicts topographic features, airspace boundaries, airports, navigation aids, and other information at a scale of 1:500,000. Sectional charts are updated every 56 days.