Disruption is inevitable; the safety outcome depends on how well the system anticipates pressure, coordinates decisions, and recovers without creating new risks.
What to expect: This track looks at how the aviation system performs when disrupted by weather, outages, congestion, or other operational stress. Participants can expect a practical conversation on resilience, coordination, decision-making, and recovery before pressure turns into elevated risk.
Session 6c Panel | When the System Is Stressed: Building Resilience for Safe Recovery
Severe weather, infrastructure outages, irregular operations, capacity constraints, and cascading delays can quickly erode normal defenses. This panel will examine how organizations maintain situational awareness, coordination, procedural discipline, and sound decision-making when the operating system is under stress. The discussion will focus on the practical conditions that allow aviation organizations to absorb disruption, adapt under pressure, and recover safely.
Moderator: John Babcook, Director, Flight Operations Safety and Quality Management, United Airlines
Panelists:
Lorenda Ward, Chief, Air Carrier and Space Investigations at U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
Susie Scott, Director of Safety and Risk, Oliver Wyman Vector
Milena Bowman, Operations Planning and Strategy Development Lead, EUROCONTROL
Session 7c Action Workshop | When the System Is Stressed: Audience Engagement and Practical Action
Building on the Session 6C panel discussion, this interactive audience engagement session will turn the conversation toward participant input, practical priorities, and shared lessons from operational disruption. Attendees will be invited to test the ideas raised in the panel, identify what helps organizations absorb disruption and recover safely, and discuss the capabilities needed before the next major stress event. The aim is to move from expert discussion to a clear understanding of where preparedness, coordination, decision-making, and adaptive capacity need to be strengthened.
Moderator: John Babcook, Director, Flight Operations Safety and Quality Management, United Airlines
Panelists:
Lorenda Ward, Chief, Air Carrier and Space Investigations at U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
Susie Scott, Director of Safety and Risk, Oliver Wyman Vector
Milena Bowman, Operations Planning and Strategy Development Lead, EUROCONTROL
