This Week in GA: On My Plan for NBAA 2026

Next week, the National Business Aviation Association’s BACE descends into the Las Vegas Convention Center and Henderson Executive Airport (KHND), and the AvBrief team will be there as a media partner to the association—and there are several highlights that I’m personally looking forward to seeing a the show, along with 17,000 or so of our colleagues across the industry.

At the main event Tuesday morning, “The Launch,” a couple of interview-style panels will bring together 2026 Meritorious Service Award winner Steven Udvar-Hazy and former honoree Ross Perot, Jr. But also deserving our attention are four organizations that will be recognized for their dedication to aviation safety, applied daily in a corporate flight department.

Flying Safely

Each year, NBAA honors flight departments with pristine safety records with its Flying Safety Awards. This year’s will be awarded to a select group that have stayed accident-free for 50, 60, or 75 years. That top honor goes to the Whirlpool Corporation, which has a tradition of operational excellence stretching back longer than the awards themselves, having launched in 1953. The Anschutz Corporation marks 50 years, and Ely Lilly and Cargill have 60 safe years in the logbooks. Thank you for showing up and doing the work every day.

Gulfstream Photo Pilots

I love a great air-to-air photo shoot, and I always learn from the pros who do this for the media outlets I’ve been part of, as well as the aircraft manufacturers who have graciously shared their time and expertise with us to bring you the aerial images we all love. Before the show opens, during Monday’s media day, I plan to catch up with a panel of Gulfstream pilots out at the company’s static display who just completed one of these multiple-jet missions.

We’ll also get a sneak peek at the G400 test aircraft that will be at the show, along with the mockups of that airplane plus the G300 unveiled in September 2025.

Sustainability Keeps on Fueling On

NBAA has had a focus on sustainability for many years, and at BACE this time around, one of the key meet-ups on the topic is the Sustainability Summit, “Fueling the Future 2.0: Sustainability Strategies for Business Aviation.” The panel takes place on Wednesday, at 11 am in the LVCC, West Hall, Room W228.

At least one of the participants I know from when I hosted a similar panel at BACE in 2024, “Climbing.Fast. Sustainably,” Scott Cushall from Clay Lacy Aviation. The business aviation services company has led the charge in applying “green” principles throughout its organization and facilities. Also on the panel this year is Nancy Bsales, from 4Air, which focuses on offsets, SAF, and carbon accounting. She and Scott are joined by Adam Hartley, from the Regulatory Toolbox; Sunny Lopez, from Phillips 66, and Keith Sawyer from AvFuel.

One schema on JeppesenForeFlight.com briefly maps the Causal Decision Intelligence behind its new agentic AI product, Airflow. [Courtesy of Jeppesen ForeFlight]

Jepp’s New Airflow

Jeppesen ForeFlight announced this week its new agentic AI operating platform, Airflow, which incorporates agents into a suite of applications for business aviation. The first two to deploy within ForeFlight Dispatch include Trip Feasibility, which checks a trip against sanctions, permits, NOTAMs, weather, and airport restrictions, and Ops Briefing, which consolidates NOTAMs and current and forecast weather. Other tools include safety management systems, paperless cockpit operations, runway performance, flight planning, fuel tracking, and aircraft privacy. The idea is to consolidate all of the tools a pilot, dispatcher, and/or flight department manager would use prior to, during, and after a flight, reducing workload and freeing the human in the mix to look at the big picture.

I plan to connect with Jepp folks at the show to see just what this means, and how it applies AI technology in a way that keeps accuracy and rigor centered—and improves situational awareness rather than taking the pilot out of the equation so much that they lose connection.

Are you curious too? The company also will host a panel, “Trust, But Verify: AI in Business Aviation” on October 21 at 1:15 PM at the LVCC, West Hall, Flight Deck, Booth 205.

The post This Week in GA: On My Plan for NBAA 2026 appeared first on AvBrief.com.