By Bryan Bedford, FAA Administrator

Whether it's flight training, medical transport, or business travel, general aviation is the true backbone of American flight. As a pilot with more than three decades in this industry, I know firsthand the weight of our shared responsibility. Keeping our skies safe — whether you are flying hundreds of passengers or going solo in a light aircraft — is a sacred trust.

Our safety record is strong. Fiscal year 2025 saw the lowest GA fatal accident rate since the FAA began tracking it in 2009. FY2026 is expected to be even lower. But we all know safety is not a destination; it’s a journey and one that demands continuous improvement. One accident, one close call is one too many. To secure the future of flight, we must constantly evolve, ensuring our safety practices outpace the rapid technological shifts transforming our airspace.

A good example of this is the landmark MOSAIC rule. This past July, the final phase of the MOSAIC rule took effect — introducing the new part 22 regulations and revamped Light Sport Category Aircraft certification. This shift modernizes how light-sport aircraft are built and certified and opens the door to a new generation of safer, more advanced, and affordable aircraft for recreational flying, training, and specialized operations.

This past summer, we also launched our new Mobile Clearance application for GA pilots. Instead of relying on traditional voice radio transmissions, pilots can use their smartphones or tablets to request clearances through a digital, text-based system — without having to contact the tower. Mobile Clearance reduces the possibility of readback error and provides better situational awareness for controllers and pilots.

We also know today’s tactics won't work in tomorrow’s crowded skies. That’s why the FAA is undergoing its most significant modernization in decades. We are also moving away from a reactive posture — investigating what went wrong after an incident — toward a predictive posture, where machine learning helps us identify GA safety risks before they happen.

Unifying Our Safety Data, Leveraging Advanced Data Analytics 

Central to this transformation is our newly established Aviation Safety Management Office (ASM). ASM will lead a coordinated risk management strategy across the entire FAA. This unified structure allows us to track hazard identification, risk, analyses, and mitigation in real time — unlocking the true potential of our safety data.

Predictive safety also requires cutting-edge tools. Today, the FAA is aggressively integrating super intelligence (SI) and advanced machine learning to mine massive volumes of data generated across the NAS.

We used advanced, SI-enabled analytics to evaluate mixed-use airports where helicopters routinely cross paths with major commercial arrival and departure routes in high-density airspace. Our SI models uncovered a systemic, historical reliance on visual separation in complex environments where human vision simply isn’t enough.
In the past, analyzing those trends across thousands of daily operations would have taken our FAA safety analysts months or longer. Now it can be done in near real-time. This is a fundamental, data-driven reengineering of how we manage the sky. SI doesn’t replace human judgment; it amplifies it, helping us make better policy and airspace decisions faster.

Modernizing the Foundation

Technology is only as good as the infrastructure supporting it. For the GA pilot, this means pairing our SI initiatives with a modernized Air Traffic Control system designed to deliver cleaner data, more reliable communications, and smoother transitions through controlled airspace. By building a modern, resilient data architecture, we ensure that both our controllers and the pilots relying on them have the high-speed data tools they need to navigate safely.

The challenges of the next decade — integrating increased commercial space launches, unmanned aircraft, and advanced air mobility (AAM) into the skies we already share — demand that we evolve. As electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft conduct real-world testing, we are focused on safely blending them into existing low-altitude environments.

We are moving the FAA into the age of predictive intelligence to fulfill our most sacred promise: Protecting every pilot, passenger, and aircraft from the moment they clear the runway to the moment they tie down.

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