U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Member Michael Graham, a former business aviation executive, will be the keynote speaker on Day 1 of Flight Safety Foundation’s 71st Business Aviation Safety Summit (BASS), which is scheduled for May 5–6 at the Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo, Utah. BASS 2026 is organized by the Foundation in partnership with the National Business Aviation Association and NATA.
In his presentation, Graham will discuss the findings and lessons learned from NTSB’s year-long investigation of the Jan. 29, 2025, fatal midair collision of a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter and a Bombardier CRJ700 near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). All 64 passengers and crew on the CRJ and the three-person crew on the helicopter were killed in the accident.
Graham’s presentation will discuss the known vulnerabilities in the layers of defense surrounding the complex airspace around DCA prior to the accident, and will identify those layers that failed, how they failed, and NTSB’s recommendations to ensure those failures not replicated anywhere else in the National Airspace System.
The theme of BASS 2026 is Leading Safety Through Culture, Innovation, and Practical Solutions; presentations and panel discussions will explore emerging technologies and new entrants, resilience in operations, mental well-being and its impact on safety, and runway and surface safety, among other topics.
Again this year, Day 1 of BASS will feature a full afternoon of round robin safety conversations, which are 45-minute small-group sessions that give presenters and attendees opportunities to interact on important safety topics. The topics include developing a holistic approach to safety communication, building a culture in which safety is inevitable, advancing safety through integrated runway performance planning, and integrating artificial intelligence into the safety office.
For more information on BASS 2026 and to register, please visit the BASS 2026 page on the Foundation website.
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Flight Safety Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, international organization engaged in research, education, and communications to improve aviation safety. The Foundation’s mission is to connect, influence, and lead global aviation safety.
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