Flexjet and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety brought together more than 70 industry leaders, data scientists and safety officials to address a challenge: aviation data sources are abundant, but making sense of them and extracting actionable insights remains difficult, though such intelligence promises to prevent future safety issues.

Held Oct. 27-28, the two-day event, titled “The Intelligence Frontier | Aviation Intelligence: From Data to Decisions,” focused on challenges of collecting and synthesizing the massive amounts of current aviation data. Difficulties include overcoming aviation data silos, incomplete data and fears of distributing proprietary data.

The impetus for the summit was the January 2025 midair collision near Washington, D.C., between an airliner and an Army Black Hawk helicopter. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that in the years preceding the crash, there were thousands of cases where airplanes and helicopters were closer than allowed in the airspace surrounding the nation’s capital. The summit organizers questioned how, with so many data sources, the warning signals could have been overlooked. As a result, the objective of the summit was to highlight the critical nature of using data to identify problems before they result in accidents.

The summit began with poignant remarks by Tim and Sheri Lilley in a keynote session titled “How aviation intelligence could have saved our son’s life – and 66 others.” Tim Lilley, a current Flexjet pilot, previously flew Black Hawk helicopters out of the same Army base as the accident Black Hawk crew. Their son, Sam, was the first officer of the airliner that was struck by the Army helicopter.  

“Flexjet has supported us like no other organization I’ve ever seen,” said Sheri Lilley. “This includes having us here today to talk to you and help advance aviation safety through discovering how to use the data so that we can prevent another tragedy like this,” she said.

Flexjet Chairman Kenn Ricci, who capped off the first day of the summit by holding a discussion with participants, emphasized that “safety cannot be proprietary,” even in research and development innovations.

“Whatever we learn from R&D — whatever we do at Flexjet — we should publish; we should communicate it,” said Ricci, who is also a member of the Embry-Riddle Board of Trustees and serves on its Flight Safety and Education Committee. “We're involved in industries where we do compete. But the reality is that this is the one place where we have a shared common vision.”

Robert Sumwalt, executive director of the Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety, who formerly served as chairman of the NTSB, stated: "More effective and new uses of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence can be part of the answer to identify emerging safety issues. We were honored to host this important forum with Flexjet to explore ways to discover those insights and create actionable aviation safety intelligence.”

During the event, panelists and speakers shared the latest thinking on advances in artificial intelligence, data capture and other analytics that could allow for rapid, real-time insights into potential aviation safety challenges. Additionally, working groups explored ways to implement structural and cultural changes that would enable communication and support action on evidence gleaned from aviation intelligence.

Kent Stauffer, Flexjet's chief safety officer, said the forum's think-tank discussions provide a potential roadmap for engaging other stakeholders. 

“The future of aviation and aerospace safety will not be shaped by the data we collect, but by the intelligence we create and the actions we derive from it,” he said. “This is a grassroots effort to bring together leading minds from both within industry and out, data science and aviation safety. By talking honestly and through unique collaboration, we hope to inspire action, influence decision-making and drive meaningful change across the aviation and aerospace industry.”