2026 THEME

Is Aviation Really Ready to Scale Safely?

Leadership for Growth, Complexity, and Disruption

Flight Safety Foundation invites you to submit your speaker presentation and be a part of shaping the future of aviation safety. Your ideas will help us select the most relevant and impactful presentations for our industry-leading summit. 

🛈 Presentation submission deadline:  May 29, 2026

Overview

Aviation is entering a period of significant strain. Recent accidents, serious incidents, operational disruptions, workforce pressures, supply chain fragility, geopolitical instability, and rapid technological change have raised urgent questions about whether the system is prepared to scale safely.

At the same time, aviation remains essential to global connectivity, economic development, and social progress. Growth is necessary — but growth without disciplined safety leadership can expose vulnerabilities, stretch oversight systems, and amplify risk.

IASS 2026 will focus on how aviation leaders can sustain and improve safety in this environment. The Summit will highlight practical, evidence-based ideas that help organizations manage growth, complexity, and disruption while strengthening safety performance. 

What We Are Looking For

  • Evidence-based content (data, validated methods, documented outcomes, or rigorous analysis);
  • Transferable lessons (insights that other organizations can apply);
  • Outcome-oriented stories (what changed, what improved, and what did not work);
  • Clarity on context and limitations (assumptions, constraints, and boundaries);
  • A strong connection to the theme pillars: growth, complexity, and disruption (with leadership as a cross-cutting lens); and,
  • Identifying priority safety risks for today’s operation as well as predicting future concerns.

Submission Formats

  • Research/technical paper: Methods, findings, and implications for safety performance at scale;
  • Operational case study: Problem, intervention, implementation approach, results, and lessons learned;
  • Practitioner briefing: Tools, frameworks, playbooks, or guidance that can be adopted by others;
  • Panel proposal: A curated set of perspectives with clear questions, evidence, and takeaways. Expertise requirements should outline the necessary perspectives and not just identify specific people;
  • Interactive workshop: Hands-on session with templates, exercises, and facilitated outcomes; and,
  • Flash talk: A single high-impact idea or lesson in a short format.

Possible Presentation Topics

Perennial Topics (Core Safety Priorities)

  • Mental Health and Wellness
  • Safety leadership, governance, and culture (board-level safety oversight, accountability, just culture, speaking up, safety as strategy);
  • Safety management systems (SMS) and operational risk management (assurance, safety performance indicators, risk controls, and effectiveness through understanding how work is performed);
  • Human performance and workforce capability (fatigue risk management, well-being, peer support, competency-based training and assessment, workload management, attracting the best people for positions).
  • Flight Operations risk reduction (approach and landing safety, runway excursions, go-around decision-making, automation management, LOC-I prevention); Airport and ANSP safety (runway safety; surface operations, including ground accidents; airspace complexity; operational coordination; and handoffs);
  • Maintenance and engineering safety (maintenance human factors, error management, shift handover, reliability and continuing airworthiness, learning across operational divisions);
  • Data-driven safety programs (reporting, FOQA/FDM, event definitions, data quality, translating signals into action); and,
  • Persistent safety issues and lessons learned (turbulence and wind shear, smoke/fumes events, ground incidents, wildlife hazards, cabin safety, other enduring risk categories).

Emerging Topics (Scale And Disruption Are Changing The Risk Picture)

  • Operational resilience and disruption management (irregular operations, extreme weather, recovery planning, rapid learning loops);
  • Conducting reasonable oversight with new operations and technology (hydrogen/new fuels/fire prevention and reaction for passenger safety);
  • GNSS degradation and navigation integrity (interference/spoofing/jamming impacts; training; procedures; monitoring; contingency operations; airspace; and equipment changes);
  • Cyber and digital operational resilience (operationally relevant cyber scenarios, continuity, human-centered response, interface dependencies);
  • Manufacturing, quality, and supply chain assurance during ramp-up (supplier risk, quality escapes, assurance models, oversight adaptation);
  • Human–automation teaming (mode awareness, monitoring, alerting, design for resilience, managing complexity in the cockpit and in ATC/UTM/airport systems); and,
  • AI/ML/NLP in safety management (use cases, governance, validation, bias, explainability, human oversight, responsible deployment, scaling narrative-based reporting).
  • Information sharing and system learning (cross-operator or cross-region data sharing, governance, de-identification, turning shared insights into action, learning from all operations, interactions between stakeholders on risks identified and mitigation solutions);
  • Integration of new operations and entrants (uncrewed aircraft integration, mixed operations, new technologies and procedures, interoperability; and,
  • Advanced aerial vehicles/commercial space new technical training application in all traditional and emerging operational areas

What To Include In Your Proposal

  1. Title and session format (paper, case study, panel, workshop, lightning talk);
  2. Abstract (problem, approach, results/insights, and why it matters);
  3. Key takeaways (3–5 bullet points expressing thoughts that attendees will leave with);
  4. Evidence base (data sources, methods, validation approach, limitations);
  5. Implementation details (what it takes to adopt: governance, training, tools, effort); and,
  6. Presenter(s) and short biographies (role relevance and experience).

What To Expect

  1. The Event Organizing Committee will only consider submissions received using this form.

  2. Please submit this form by May 29, 2026.

  3. All submissions will be reviewed independently by a team of reviewers. The outcome of the selection process will be communicated by June 26, 2026.

  4. If selected, your PowerPoint presentation must be received no later than October 12, 2026.

 

Submit Your Information Below

The Event Organizing Committee will only consider submissions received using this form.

Please be prepared to complete this form in full, you will not be able to save and return to the form once you start.

Submission deadline:  May 29, 2026.

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Need Assistance?

If you have questions about the call for presentations, please contact: Megan Helsel  |  helsel@flightsafety.org

If you have any trouble with the submission form, please contact: Eleanor Stamper |  stamper@flightsafety.org