Industry News Archives - JulietBravoFox Media

February 20, 2026February 20, 2026

GAMA: Big Wins for BizJets, A Strong Year in 2025

A panoramic view of the stage at the GWU auditorium lit in deep royal blue and orange flanked by two podiums with men speaking from behind them

The total take hit $31 billion for airplanes and $4.7 billion for rotorcraft, topping $35 billion overall for the first time, and an increase of 14.6%.

With the official kickoff of the general aviation year, I made my first contribution to AvBrief.com, with my report and a beginning analysis of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association 2025 Report press conference and gathering in Washington, D.C., on February 18.

To read the story, please visit the site, and if you like what you see, support the cause by leaving a comment and signing up for the free newsletter. (You can do that on this site as well!)

February 18, 2026February 18, 2026

An Unsung Heroine and Shepherd of General Aviation History Retires

Dorothy Cochrane, longtime curator for general aviation and women in aviation for the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, retired in 2025 after a career of championing the importance of light aircraft within the aerospace legacy.

Her retirement lunch took three times to occur. The first time, it fell victim to the government shutdown in October. The second time, to the great blizzard of January 25 in Washington, D.C., where the NASM sits on the National Mall after its extensive restoration.

The third time, on Tuesday, February 17, a crowd of colleagues gathered to share cake and stories with Cochrane and her family and friends. We celebrated a person uniquely responsible for identifying and preserving the stories and importance of general aviation for the present and future generations to understand.

Not only did Cochrane help colleagues such as Chris Browne, current director of NASM, comprehend better the role of GA in the grand aviation scheme of things, but more than that, help the literally millions of people that come to the museum and come to the Smithsonian’s websites seeking experts—to learn more, to become educated, and to go out into the world with that knowledge.

Cochrane earned her private pilot certificate in 1994, and that’s really how I became privileged to know her: We both belong to an informal group of pilots in the D.C. area who regularly fly out for lunch and other shenanigans.

She threatened to retire for several years, but one project in particular kept her engaged: the development and bringing to life of the first NASM gallery dedicated to GA, the Thomas W. Haas We All Fly section on the first floor of the museum on the Mall. You owe it to yourself to return to the NASM to see it—there’s something within its walls that will resonate with you no matter what your relationship is to aviation, even if that has been limited to watching the feats of Dusty Crophopper from Planes (one of her proud acquisitions).

She joked at her party that she stayed on to revamp the Pioneers of Flight only as an aside in importance to her, compared to We All Fly. However, among her other key acquisitions was the Lindbergh “Bird” that Anne Morrow Lindbergh once flew. The Lindberghs feature prominently in the Pioneers exhibit, as you might expect.

But more so than the one-of-a-kind artifacts she’s obtained for the collection over the years are the priceless relationships with pioneering humans that have advanced flight. Like Eileen Collins, Patty Wagstaff, and Sean D. Tucker.

You may know their names, but please now know Dorothy’s, as she leaves a legacy in general aviation from which we can all benefit.

NASM Director Chris Browne thanked Cochrane on behalf of the decades of colleagues and constituents with whom she collaborated over decades of service. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

February 15, 2026February 15, 2026

Julie Boatman Joins AvBrief as a Contributor

We started our support of AvBrief.com the very day that it launched in August 2025.

Now, we’re pleased to have the freedom to join officially as the primary coordinator of the digital publication’s general and business aviation OEM coverage. I get to do one of the things I love most—fly new aircraft and report on the teams that bring them to life—and do so collaborating with a couple of the best journalists in aviation, Russ Niles and Larry Anglisano. The group of contributors they have attracted to the fold is only surpassed by the number of subscribers that they have been adding every day.

It’s real aviation intelligence. Nothing artificial.

Check out the video link below for my interview with Russ about the new role and the first assignments I’ll have for AvBrief.

Julie Boatman Joins AvBrief

JulietBravoFox Media will continue to serve our incredible media relations and marketing consulting clients as we enter our third year since relaunching the agency in February 2024.

It’s an exciting time to bring new ideas and technology to pilots, and I’m thrilled to get to work with the very best in the business. Please join me by signing up for AvBrief’s free newsletter here.

January 29, 2026January 29, 2026

A Disaster at DCA, 77 Years Later

A look at history reveals the deeply embedded congestion issues confluenced with the pressure to utilize a close-in transportation hub.

I’ve been on that flight, essentially, more than a couple dozen times.

A direct Piedmont Airlines, or Envoy, or SkyWest flight into Washington National airport—KDCA—from some point on the map. Often Charlotte or Chicago, but also LaGuardia, Chattanooga, and Philly.

And Wichita, too.

So I’ve had ample time to contemplate both sides of the equation in the steep ramp-up in flights that American Airlines and others have made into DCA over the past three years. There’s the me that wants to get directly to where I’m going, and the me that has done a double-take at the stacking of aircraft on crossing taxiways and runway ends that it apparently takes to accommodate that increase in flights.

I took a picture once because I thought for sure a runway incursion had at least a 50/50 chance.

A snap from the window seat of a CRJ waiting to take position for Runway 19 at DCA in Washington, in February 2023. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

I took other pictures because at its heart, I love DCA, though because of 9/11 I never have flown into it as PIC. I love the River Visual, the finesse it takes to stick the landing, and the central location. The close-in economy parking. The quick check-in by the North Security area.

But it turns out, DCA has been an accident waiting to happen for a long time. In fact, an accident similar to the one in which a PSA CRJ700 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that took 67 lives last January 29 happened there, in the late 1940s.

After a nighttime landing at DCA, in February 2023. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

Eastern Air Lines in 1949

Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, N88727, was a Douglas DC-4 aircraft en route from Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., by way of a few stops on the old airmail route on November 1, 1949. But a horrifying accident took place near the approach end of Runway 3 (now 4) at Washington National that day. The DC-4—often taking on the role of regional airliner in that day—struck a military aircraft. This time it was a P-38 Lockheed Lightning undergoing an acceptance flight test trial for the Bolivian Air Force.

At 300 feet and a half-mile from the threshold, it killed the 55 passengers and crew aboard the DC-4 and—amazingly—only seriously injured the pilot of the P-38, a Bolivian national by the name of Erik Rios Bridoux.

According to the Wikipedia entry, “at the time, it was the deadliest airliner incident in United States history.”

But even with that dramatic loss of life in the heart of the nation’s capital, it wouldn’t be the trigger that set in motion real change in the governance of aviation in the U.S.

What Does It Take to Make Real Change?

That distinction would go to the much more well-known Connie vs. DC-7 mid-air that took place over the Grand Canyon in 1956, which took the lives of 128 people between the two aircraft.

There’s a symmetry here: a keystone accident preceding the bigger one that turned out to be the last straw.

The 1956 mid-air has long been identified as the catalyst for creating a federal aviation agency with coordinated national air traffic control—now the FAA. Perhaps the accident on January 29, 2025, is the similar catalyst that help mitigate issues of congestion and staffing shortages at one of the nation’s most critical airports. Because it does not compute that the denizens of D.C. (myself included) will want to give up their direct flights, regardless of their political clout.

But it can’t be a catalyst without continuous funding support for ATC, disentangled from the machinations in D.C. As Rep. Rick Larsen, D-WA, ranking member of the House’s Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, said in December 2025, “We have to avoid history repeating itself.”

The Aviation Funding Solvency Act (HR 6086) is part of the current proposition to achieve this goal. It “provides continuing appropriations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) if (1) an appropriations bill for the FAA has not been enacted before a fiscal year begins, or (2) a law making continuing appropriations for the FAA is not in effect,” according to the entry on congress.gov.

During the National Transportation Safety Board meeting on the PSA/BlackHawk mid-air on January 28, the NTSB reviewed several recommendations it would make within its final report, most pointing the finger at the FAA for issues of system and culture that persist at DCA.

So far, only one has already been addressed—the rendering permanent of the TFR closing the helicopter route that placed the Black Hawk in the path of the PSA CRJ700. The remainder hangs in the balance as we teeter towards another government shutdown—particularly if HR 6086 doesn’t come to fruition in advance of that stoppage.

We have the technology tools to help mitigate one cultural issue—the regular reliance on visual separation by the DCA control tower. With the final report yet to be released, we can push for the increased staffing that will almost certainly boost sagging morale, and potentially decrease persistent mental fatigue levels amongst our friends at ATC.

While the DC-4 disaster at DCA didn’t prompt change back in 1949, perhaps nearly 77 years later we’ll see a hauntingly similar regional-and-military mid-air lead to real solutions. Surely we’ve come that far along in all of those years.

January 15, 2026January 15, 2026

The TBM 980 Captures a New Era

A Daher TBM 980 single-engine turboprop airplane in flight over the mountains in southern France, with a charcoal grey top and white base with flash orange accents.

With the snow capping the Pyrenées to the south, my last visit to Tarbes took place on a chilly day in November 2021. I was meeting up with Margrit Waltz, who readied a new TBM 940 for its ferry flight across the ocean.

At the time, I didn’t realize that the next TBM had already moved onto the production line, the serial number (SN) that would become the first TBM 960. That model debuted in April 2022, and I had a chance to fly it from Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo down to Daher’s then HQ in south Florida, at KPMP, Pompano Beach.

Now, nearly four years later, Daher debuts its latest, the TBM 980, and what looks like a similar aircraft has changed significantly under its gorgeous skin.

Similiarly, Daher may look like the same company if you just glance at the buildings collected on the ramp at LFBT, but so much has changed. The company has three locations now in Florida—at KSUA where the TBM will soon be built on a new line, and at KFLL where the new U.S. headquarters is located. And the Kodiak’s home base in Sandpoint, Idaho, now churns out Kodial 900s as well as the 100 Series III.

And…just in time to kickoff 2026, the TBM 980 takes the stage.

The sixth 900-series turboprop launched by Daher since it took possession of the aircraft model line in 2014, the TBM 980 integrates the Garmin G3000 PRIME that the avionics OEM debuted in late 2024 on the competing Pilatus PC-12 Pro. But this is more than a makeup game. The G3000 PRIME replaces the previous G3000 with three 14-inch touchscreens and app-based functionality to evolve the flight deck experience to match what most pilots carry in their pockets.

The first integrated flight deck into the TBM series took off when Garmin and then-SOCATA signed the contract to put the G1000 into the TBM 850 at NBAA 2005. It was the beginning of the end of “federated” avionics—the separate boxes that worked in concert that we used to know so well.

Twenty years and 1,000 TBMs later, the flight deck now integrates into the pilot’s life. “When you pick up an iPad, you don’t read a manual, you pick it up and use it intuitively,” said Nicolas Chabbert, Daher Aircraft CEO, at a livestream event on Thursday, January 15, in the evening from Daher’s main hangar in Tarbes. The PRIME drives closer to that mark than any flight deck thus far.

The presets are contextual, allowing for the phase of flight to drive them. And that’s just the beginning. There’s a joystick to aid in selection, rather than a button for scrolling, and the ability to check in on the airplane remotely via Garmin PlaneSync.

Guillaume Remigi, test pilot, said at the event that the biggest surprise he discovered during flight test was how much he appreciated the touchscreens. Rather than being a novelty, they became natural and intuitive, he found.

Another operational improvement sure to be well-received by pilots is the ability to operate without adding Prist to the fuel. The Prist-free option had to be validated in hot and humid weather conditions, so the test pilots related during the livestream how they flew to Agadir, Morocco, leaving the aircraft outside overnight, experiencing temperatures ranging from +40C to -50C in the desert, and up to 90 percent humidity on the coast.

An enhanced interior features a new passenger display through which the folks in the back can see flight data… Chabbert likened it to Concorde, though perhaps not into the Mach numbers!

The new TBM will be Starlink Mini-capable, and to preview this, Daher’s Michel Adam de Villiers and longtime TBM pilot and superfan Dr. Ian Fries called in during the event from in-flight over Florida. Fries is the first publicly announced customer to purchase the TBM 980, which will be SN 1634, ready in March—Number 6 for Dr. Fries. That said, SN 1627 and SN 1628 are already poised to depart for their first customers.

Frankly, I can’t wait to get my hands on the new yoke—and on the touchscreens—either.

December 30, 2025December 30, 2025

Garmin’s Autoland Activation in the Wild

Canva filter in purple and neon orange with Autoland sequence display shown on a display in an instrument panel.

I’ve been thinking about the first activation of the revolutionary Garmin Autoland system “in real life” for more than a week.

I recall clearly sitting as a silent witness to the compelling initiation and execution of the Autoland sequence several years ago. A couple of times, in fact.

Both of these activations happened in demo mode and were not the full “in the wild” experience. The first took place before the system was certificated, at Garmin’s flight department headquarters at New Century AirCenter (KIXD) near Olathe, Kansas, in August 2019, in a Piper M600 modified for testing.

My second experience took place in the Beechcraft King Air 200 used as the test bed for the currently deployed aftermarket system on that airframe, away from Garmin’s home base, and with a Garmin flight demo pilot in the left seat, and me in the right seat. The tower had been advised of the demonstrations taking place, but we otherwise slotted into the regular stream of traffic at a busy airport. No total clearing of the airspace took place, because it was understood by ATC not to be an emergency.

You can see essentially the same demo I sat through here, on AvBrief.com.

A lot has been said about the circumstances surrounding the event, which happened over the Rocky Mountains on December 20, 2025. That activation occurred not with a push of the guarded Autoland button, but when the pilots of N479BR [operated by Buffalo River Aircraft Services] experienced a pressurization emergency at 23,000 feet after taking off from Aspen (KASE). The Garmin integrated system sensed the loss of cabin pressure and activated the Emergency Descent Mode (EDM). The EDM protocol commands a descent to 14,000 feet. If no response is sensed from the pilots after 60 seconds of inactivity, the Autoland system engages thereafter.

The pilots of the ferry flight had no passengers on board, and elected to allow Autoland to progress to its conclusion, which ended in a safe, apparently textbook approach and landing at Rocky Mountain Metro Airport (KBJC) in Broomfield, Colorado.

My friend and colleague Max Trescott happened to be flying in a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet in Colorado at the same time as N479BR activated Autoland, and he managed to record much of the comms on Guard, sharing this with listeners on the podcast NTSB NewsTalk he produces with another former colleague of mine, Rob Mark.

As it turns out, the King Air leveled at 18,000 feet instead—my assumption is that the aircraft stopped at 18,000 feet because of MEAs along the mountainous route, until you reach the relative flatlands of the Front Range near KBJC. The audio that Max replays on the podcast illuminates one interesting situation for pilots who remain conscious and compos mentis during the Autoland engagement: The crew reported they could only transmit on Guard; it’s true that a pilot (or passenger) can’t change the radio frequency once activated—you’d need to disengage Autoland in order to do so, and recommence flying.

Autoland can easily be deactivated by pressing the autopilot key on the a/p control panel, or the a/p disconnect switch on the pilot’s control yoke or stick. So, the question on many a commenter’s mind is why the pilots rode the system out to its conclusion rather than disengaging Autoland once they were descended below 14,000 feet msl. Some bemoan the giving over of command to the system too easily—and the potential for piloting skills to erode further as we let automated systems handle the hand-flying to a greater and greater extent.

While my experience in high altitude ops is limited, I can’t help but think back to a cross-country flight I took back in 1995 in a friend’s Cessna T303 Crusader—you don’t hear enough about these classy airplanes imho—where we elected to fly at FL250 on oxygen masks headed from Colorado to Chicago. As a climber and well acclimated by years of living at 10,000 feet, my friend in the left seat took off his mask and ate lunch while I stayed on the gas and the controls from the right. About 5 minutes later, he donned the mask again, and I took my turn.

I got about three bites into my granola bar when I found I couldn’t chew anymore. The hypoxic effects took only that long to sink in. So yes, a pressurization event at FL230 is no joke to me. After years of flying in Colorado, I know hypoxia is insidious, and that a pilot can feel giddy and overconfident as a result. That would lead me to choose to monitor a fully and correctly functioning Autoland system while I monitored my own condition and that of the airplane while on supplemental oxygen. That’s me.

Frankly, I’m more surprised the first irl activation took this long to occur. As a corollary, the Cirrus SR20 obtained certification on October 23, 1998, and the first Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) “save” took place not quite 4 years later, in an SR20 on October 3, 2002. Autoland gained its first cert on the Piper M600/SLS Halo in May 2020—so we took 5.5 years for that fateful button push. And that’s for a system you can reset. Once a CAPS is deployed, the cat is out of the bag, literally.

I think about it this way: The Autoland sequence began at an altitude where pilot incapacitation remained a serious concern. With the system flying the airplane, the crew could focus 100 percent on their own health, and running checklists and other troubleshooting, maintaining greater situational awareness. In your everyday flying, if the autopilot is making a coupled approach well, do you click it off just to prove you could hand fly the airplane?

We have a conscious choice to keep our skills from eroding in the face of a capable “auto-whatever,” whether it’s CAPS or Autoland or just a really great autopilot. The advent of tools that leverage technology requires more from pilots than just accepting them carte blanche and allowing them to take over every time. And we need to practice our hand-flying skills regularly.

But during an abnormal or emergency situation, when you need to access all of the resources at your disposal, it surely makes sense to me to keep Autoland engaged as long as it’s performing as promised.

There’s always the little red button on the yoke.

December 17, 2025December 17, 2025

Happy 90th Birthday, DC-3

A polished silver and blue Douglas DC-3 twin radial engined airplane sits on the green-brown grass at an airfield with a blue sky and clouds behind.

For the past 20 years, we’ve celebrated December 17 in our household a little differently than most aviation enthusiasts and pilots, who rightfully note the Wright Brothers’ achievement of powered, controlled flight in 1903.

Even if you are from the segment of folks who question the Wrights’ place in history to the extent it has been sanctified, you cannot question that the first flight of the Douglas DC-3 line, the inaugural Douglas Sleeper Transport, took place on the afternoon of December 17, 1935. Carl Cover, the chief pilot and commander of the test flight noted it in his logbook. He was not prone to hyperbole, so NX14988 sits on a single line there without fanfare.

The cool, clear day heralded the uneventful flight, and the airplane itself went on to delivery to American Airlines a few months later.

You can read all about it in my story posted by our friends at Vintage Aviation News, “The Mighty Douglas DC-3 Celebrates 90 Years Flying.”

Tomorrow, we’ll also be hosting the “Throttle Thursday” installment of the DC-3 Society’s 90th Anniversary commemoration week, with a great line-up of DC-3 pilots and crew, including Nicholas Cerretani, Paul Bazeley, Brooks Pettit, Sergio Alen, Mark Stewart, and Daniel Wotring.

Check it out here, or drop me a note and I’ll send you the Zoom link and password.

However you celebrate DC-3 Day, lift a favorite glass (filled with scotch if you’re a Douglas) to toast the man who made it possible, and the crew that flew the DST that glorious day.

A view of the Santa Monica airport in the 1940s in black and white from above, with the runway 21 numbers at the near end of the image, looking out towards the Pacific Ocean. Manufacturing plants line both sides, and aircraft wait on the ramp. — The Santa Monica Municipal Airport, known as Clover Field, was a bustling place in the 1940s, for Douglas Aircraft Company, which launched the first flight of the Douglas DC-3 model here. [Credit: Julie Boatman Archives]

November 8, 2025November 8, 2025

The Real Story on Better Avionics Simulation

A Flight1 Tech AATD emulating a Cirrus SR series airplane with a wide screen, instrument panel and overhead CAPS assembly to replicate pulling the airframe parachute.

“When it comes to learning advanced integrated avionics, the airplane is perhaps the worst place to learn. But the right simulator is the better option for obvious reasons, and not all are created equal.”

What’s the scoop behind the claim? Calvin Fraites of Flight1 Aviation Technologies joined The Smart Aviator’s Larry Anglisano on AvBrief. com to explain just what this means and how both flight schools and private owners can incorporate robust simulation into their regular practice as well as pursuit of certificates—especially the instrument rating—in Cirrus SR Series and Piper PA28 aircraft equipped with the Garmin Perspective and G1000 NXi.

A screenshot of an AvBrief.com thumbnail with the YouTube icon over images of a flight sim instrument panel and a Cirrus G7 airplane. — Flight1 Tech’s Calvin Fraites joined Larry Anglisano of AvBrief.com on The Smart Aviator podcast on November 5, 2025. To visit the podcast, go to the AvBrief website.

We’ve been working with Flight1 Tech to promote its AATDs because I’ve seen how well they work within the flight training organizations with which I’ve collaborated over the years. I’ve known founder and president Jim Rhoads since my days at AOPA, when his company built the Cessna Cardinal model for Microsoft Flight Sim that accompanied the AOPA Sweepstakes Catch-a-Cardinal.

Since then, Flight1 Tech’s FAA-approved AATDs have evolved to emulate faithfully the Cirrus SR series, complete with Garmin’s Perspective+ and CAPS (Cirrus Airframe Parachute System) deployment, and the nuances of the PA-28 based on Jim’s longtime ownership and piloting of his own Piper Cherokee. Now, the modern version replicates an Archer with Garmin’s G1000 NXi avionics suite.

For training that sticks, you need an honest rendering of the instrument panel and associated hardware, and Flight1 Tech does it in a way that keeps it low cost and approachable for a wide range of flight schools as well as private owners.

Take a look, and if you want to see more, visit their web site.

October 16, 2025October 16, 2025

NBAA 2025: Hall & Static

A closeup of the Citation Ascend placard and the nose of the jet.

Trying to re-vision a massive event like NBAA’s BACE—the association’s largest annual gathering—takes time as well as overcoming a lot of inertia, both institutional and across the industry.

With a long-term agreement signed with the Las Vegas Convention Center, NBAA is constricted in its ability to revamp the conference, but it made valiant efforts to do so this year, and try to bring value to the members of the association and the companies and customers they serve.

A pair of white with black Gulfstream business jets on the ramp under a blue sky. — The Gulfstream team brought the G400, G800, and the cabin mockup of the G300 to the show at NBAA-BACE. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

I found the most value in the meetings, the networking, and the chance conversations that only bringing together a lot of disparate folks in person can do. And that’s really why bizav exists, really, that gathering people together, face to face.

At one point on the exhibit hall floor, I was in a gathering of random friends I knew from no less than 3 prior corporate engagements. No one can plan that kind of synergy.

A black Epic Aircraft single engine turboprop on a an aircraft ramp under a blue sky. — The sleek black Epic E1000 GX poises on the ramp at NBAA-BACE. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

A white Cessna Citation Ascend business jet with a placard in front of it with performance details. — The sleek black Epic E1000 GX poises on the ramp at NBAA-BACE. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

By necessity, the exhibit hall floor was smaller, less full, as well as the static display, with fewer aircraft overall (and a wind/duststorm on Tuesday that drove people away from KHND). But there were some big players there (Gulfstream, Bombardier) as well as new entrants (Epic in a sleek, super-black E1000 GX). In fact, black was a bit of a theme, with Daher’s Kodiak 100 showing up in stealth colors as well.

The flight deck of the Citation Ascend with three large glass displays across and four smaller touchscreen controllers. — The flight deck of the Citation Ascend shows the layout of the significant upgrade to the XLS line. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

A close up of the center power console on the Citation Ascend business jet. — The flight deck of the Citation Ascend shows the layout of the significant upgrade to the XLS line. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

The new Citation Ascend from Textron Aviation made the scene too, and its upgrade from the XLS (though it shares the same type rating, as I was assured) looks pretty spiffy. I can’t wait to fly it. Someday. Maybe I’ll get a chance to do some other Citation flying when the next Special Olympics Airlift comes around—in June 2026, into Minneapolis-St. Paul. It will be my fifth SOA if I can make it happen.

A black Daher Kodiak 900 utility single engine turboprop on the aircraft ramp with a Daher sign in black under a blue sky. — Can you even see the Daher Kodiak multimission aircraft? It is so black. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

A black Cirrus Vision Jet, single engine rear mounted and a v-tail, in black and steel grey under a blue sky on an aircraft ramp. — Can you even see the Daher Kodiak multimission aircraft? It is so black. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

In talking with colleagues from around the bizav space following the show, there was good energy—the dynamic duo of Dierks Bentley and Steuart Walton at the keynote was a high point. I wonder how many downloads/streams of “Drunk on a Plane” or “Riser” happened from that GPS location on the Strip immediately following the keynote… I admit I claim both of them.

All in all, this was still a show not to miss. I found a lot of value in networking and will come away with new business and strengthened relationships across the board.

But the slimmed-down versions of most exhibitors seemed to serve them well too. Your thoughts?

Two white Dassault Falcon business jets on the ramp under a blue sky. — A pair of Falcons perches on the ramp at the NBAA-BACE static display. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

October 14, 2025October 14, 2025

NBAA 2025 Media Day: A Pretty Crazy Year

Looking out of the 12th floor of a hotel in Las Vegas at the sun rising over the mountains to the east, sun just breaking the horizon.

The unofficial kickoff for the annual BACE in Vegas included reflections from all corners of the business aviation industry in a quest to make sense of a challenging, changeable time.

For those of us coming in from the East Coast, or Europe, the sun doesn’t rise quickly enough in Las Vegas. As usual, I woke up, sans alarm, at 4:57 am, ready to roll. Fueled by Tacos El Gordo from the night before, the action began at 7:30 am and did not conclude until I walked “home” from the Honeywell media event at the Las Vegas Country Club (very old school Vegas in a mid-century modern clubhouse) at 8:30 pm. Whew.

A man in a dark suit and white shirt stands a podium with Bombardier on it, and next to a slide that reads "Introducing the Bombardier Global 8000; The world's fastest business jet." — Éric Martel, president of Bombardier, announced the goal of a Mach 0.95 certification MMO for the Global 8000. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

Big—and Fast—Jets

We covered Gulfstream’s G300 launch in late September in Savannah. The greater story lies in the rationalization of their product line that has occurred under the leadership of Mark Burns and team. I’m hoping to talk later at BACE with chief of engineering flight test, pilot Scott Evans, out at the static display where the G400 test article, G800 production model, and G300 cabin mockup grace the ramp.

Bombardier in a celebration fested by Cirque du Soleil gymnastiques announced its Global 8000 will aim for certification at a new top MMO of Mach 0.95. The nuances behind the number have been significant, and clearly already addressed in flight test to date, but the traverse to M1.2 during those tests opens up a slew of questions.

A man in a dark blue suit stands with a microphone next to a slide that says "Tariffs Impact on New Aircraft Purchase Plans." — Rollie Vincent, CEO of JetNet IQ, remarked upon the effect that the spectre of tariffs have had on the business jet market. {Credit: Julie Boatman]

The Market

At the Newsmaker’s Luncheon—during which The Air Current’s Elan Head deservedly secured NBAA’s Gold Wing Award for business aviation reporting—the mood in the room smacked of cautious optimism (that has been a theme for a while), with the collective sentiment captured in two keynote speeches referencing the current political situation in the U.S. as well as the leadership panel convened following lunch.

Those two keynotes formed an interesting parallel. Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, gave an impassioned plea for Congress to work towards the same kind of bipartisan solution to resolve the shutdown as the one that had led to the FAA reauthorization bill of last year, and which was discussed by Rep. Sam Graves in his remarks just prior to Daniels’. We can all hope, but hope is not a strategy.

A woman in a white silk shirt and bold neckershief stands at a podium that says NBAA BACE. — Elan Head, of The Air Current, accepts the NBAA Gold Wing Award at the Newsmakers’ Luncheon. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

A group of five men sit on a stage in suits with a geometric pattern in the background in light blue, royal, and rich orange. — Elan Head, of The Air Current, accepts the NBAA Gold Wing Award at the Newsmakers’ Luncheon. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

The uncertainty generated by global economic and geo-political forces underpins each of the market reports presented to the media on Monday, both by Rollie Vincent (JetNet IQ) and Christoph Kohler (WingX/JetNet) and by the Honeywell team, led by strategic planning manager Kevin Schwab. While the demand for business jets continues to rise—with 8,500 (Honeywell) or 9,700 (JetNet) new jets predicted to deliver over the next decade, forces from tariffs, to regulatory/shutdown headwinds, to black swan events on the geo-political scene are keeping everyone on pins and needles about the tenacity of that demand.

Leveling things out a bit, Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO of Embraer Executive Jets (and wearer of the purple socks, always spot on in style) noted the significant impact that large fleet sales have on their business. “What you have in terms of stability of strategic partners like FlexJet…is a great testimony to being able to find efficiencies in your production line, look for solutions that are going to bring more volume to that sector, and recognize that they’re a sales group in the sky.” However, Ron Draper, CEO of Textron Aviation, offered a balancing note–and one grounded in the company’s experience during the recession of 2008: “Fleet customers can change as the economy goes up and down. And so we like a mix of retail and fleet orders, and that’s what our backlog represents today.”

A man in a dark suit and burgundy shirt stands in front of a Honeywell banner on a stage with a presentation to his right showing the 2025 Business Jet Delivery Forecast. — Kevin Schwab, Honeywell, presents the company’s market forecast at an event at the Las Vegas Country Club on Monday evening.

A man in a dark suit holding a microphone stands in front of a Daher banner and next to a presentation slide with a Kodiak on it. — Kevin Schwab, Honeywell, presents the company’s market forecast at an event at the Las Vegas Country Club on Monday evening.

Brazil, Multimission in Focus

In several press conferences, the growth recently seen in Latin America has led to a greater focus on that market by OEMs seeking to capitalize on economic opportunity there, particularly in Brazil, where light jets and turboprops find great application in connecting remote areas of the country to its population centers. As an example, Daher opened its Brazilian office this summer and has now appointed its leadership team on site: Paulo Cesar Olenscki assumes the role of Executive Director for the operation in São Paulo, along with Rodrigo Cendon as the Customer Relations Director.

Also noted by Daher Aircraft CEO Nicolas Chabbert, the Tagine R&D project continues to roll along under funding by the French government. “This program is underway and is delivering papers and a cabinet full of ideas on the innovation side,” said Chabbert. “We took the Kodiak as a good bench to provide the mix between what could be advertised and what solutions can you do when it comes to the trade offs with the battery, and electricity. So this is the purpose of Tagine; it doesn’t necessarily end up with a product.”

In fact, the mountain of papers and data resulting from the joint exercise will be published publicly, according to Chabbert, so the company will determine following that report out if it will put into application the learnings gleaned from it. The problem presented by slow progress on improving energy density in the batteries currently available remains—capacity is roughly 50 percent of what it should be, he noted. And with collaboration on the FAA side that has come to a standstill during the current government shutdown, Chabbert would only remark that Daher’s progress on certification programs in process have paused.

Partnerships

Hartzell Propeller and The Blackhawk Group also announced their partnership ahead of BACE this fall. The plan is to leverage the service and support capabilities of both entities and expand their footprint in North America and Europe. Hartzell will supply its Top Props to Blackhawk for use on its upgrades and aircraft overhaul programs, and provide maintenance and overhaul facilities via its eight service centers.

We look forward to more time in the exhibit hall and at the static display on the official Day One of NBAA on Tuesday…more aircraft pics to come, along with fun times celebrating aviation with friends and colleagues.