NBAA’s Convention Keynote Focuses on Inventing the Future
Innovation was in focus right out of the gate at the National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), with the Day 1 Keynote Session in Orlando, Florida. While celebrating inspiring and emerging concepts, the session recognized that innovation requires policy support to get off the ground.
International aviation safety leaders, FAA acting Administrator Billy Nolen and EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky, kicked off the session discussing the importance of partnerships between the two agencies to improve aviation’s sustainability and support new product certification and operations.
“The roadmap for aerospace evolution is quite basic: We allow innovators to do what they do best—innovate—while we at the FAA create safe certification pathways, not roadblocks. We don’t compromise on safety because that’s our bottom line. It’s the bottom line for all regulators,” said Nolen. “Leaders of every age are called upon to address great challenges, this is ours, and we’re up to the task.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson, an acclaimed astrophysicist, spoke of the goal of reaching distance horizons and encouraged general and business aviation innovators to keep reaching forward.
“I’ve always felt if you dream big, as a nation, then those goals like the James Webb Space Telescope, kids see that and say, ‘I want to do that!’” Tyson said. “If you want to invent the future and have the next generation embrace it, then keep this forward motion on an exponential curve. Be ashamed to die until you have scored some victory for humanity.”
NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. also spoke at the Day 1 Keynote Session, correlating his experiences in the race car to business aviation.
These inspiring keynote speakers kicked off the premier business aviation event of the year, which featured a sold-out aircraft display, standing-room-only education sessions, and a celebration of the association’s 75th anniversary.
NBAA-BACE returns to Las Vegas, Nevada, October 17-19, 2023.