Industry Leaders Explore How Technology Is Advancing Aviation Safety

Extending the Safety Conversation Across the Industry 

Innovation delivers its greatest impact within aviation’s shared responsibility of safety. At FlightGlobal’s final webinar of 2025, sponsored by Honeywell Aerospace, leaders from across the industry explored how emerging capabilities can help address today’s most imperative operational risks.

The discussion builds directly on conversations first shared at the 2025 American Aviation Leadership (AAL) Summit, extending those insights to a broader audience to reinforce that meaningful safety progress requires collaboration across OEMs, suppliers, operators, regulators and pilot communities.

Turning Data, Sensors and Systems Into Safer Operations

During the webinar, Todd Giles, Chief Technology Officer at Honeywell Aerospace, emphasized the critical, pragmatic point that improving aviation safety can’t wait solely on future aircraft. The industry must also strengthen protection for the aircraft flying today.

From runway incursions and unstable approaches to increasingly complex airport environments, Honeywell is focused on leveraging existing avionics and installed infrastructure to deliver clearer, earlier situational awareness to flight crews.

By combining traffic data, alerting logic and cockpit displays already in service across much of the global fleet, pilots can detect potential hazards sooner to take decisive action.

This approach reflects a broader Honeywell philosophy: deliver near-term safety gains at scale while continuing to advance next-generation solutions in partnership with OEMs. It’s about closing today’s gaps while building toward tomorrow’s capabilities.

Building Resilience as Operational Complexity Grows

As operations become more connected and data-driven, new opportunities meet new challenges. One topic that generated significant discussion during the webinar was GPS jamming and spoofing, which are increasingly common in certain regions and sometimes difficult to detect.

Giles outlined Honeywell’s work in resilient navigation, which focuses on layered protection rather than reliance on a single signal source.

That includes: 

✓ Improving detection and filtering of corrupted data
✓ Strengthening system behavior during degraded conditions 
✓ Enabling alternate navigation pathways that allow crews to maintain safe operations through GNSS disruption

The takeaway was clear: resilience cannot rely on a single technology decision. It requires thoughtful system integration, operational procedures and collaboration across the aviation ecosystem.

Supporting Better Decisions Through AI and Automation

Increasing data volumes are strengthening AI’s role as a decision-support tool. Rather than replacing pilot judgment, the panel discussed AI’s potential to reduce workload by rapidly synthesizing information and highlighting what matters most in time-critical situations.

For Giles, responsible deployment is key. When designed around human factors, advanced analytics and automation can help crews stay ahead of the aircraft, especially in off-nominal scenarios, without introducing distraction or alert fatigue. The goal is better quality information, delivered at the right moment.