An NBAA initiative to establish standardized operating procedures (SOPs) across business aviation took center stage at the 2026 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), as industry safety leaders called on operators to embrace a common framework for reducing errors, mitigating risks and further improving the sector's safety record.
The session, “Fewer Errors, Safer Skies,” highlighted the NBAA SOP Manual developed through a collaborative effort involving NBAA, FlightSafety International, CAE and other industry stakeholders to bring greater consistency to business aviation flight operations.
“Business aviation often develops SOPs department to department,” said session moderator Matt Simmonds, a PepsiCo pilot and chair of NBAA’s Domestic Operations Committee. “You could ask 10 different departments, ‘How do you do a specific thing?’ And you’ll get 11 different answers.”
Accident data reflects the need for a common standard, with SOP nonadherence cited in 56% of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents and 42% of loss of control-inflight (LOC-I) events. Adherence to SOPs could have prevented 60% of runway excursions.
“The numbers there are quite staggering,” said Mike Graham, who recently retired as vice chair of the NTSB. “The Part 121 world really cleaned up their accident rates and SOPs were one big part of that.”
Adoption is only the beginning, however, as operators must ensure pilots consistently follow established procedures and revisit those standards when changing conditions reveal shortcomings.
“It’s not unlike a safety management system in that it’s a continuous process,” Graham added. “If something isn’t working anymore, go back and fix it and then retrain everybody to it.”
That requires a delicate balance, however, as frequent changes to established standards can also render them irrelevant, noted Steve Bragg, director of aviation safety at Executive Jet Management who chairs the NBAA SOP change management process.
“One of the first things we recognized was if this is just a stale document that collects dust on a shelf, it will never be adopted,” he said. “It was really important that we create a process that accepts feedback from industry, keeps the document alive and moving forward and adapts to the changes that we’re seeing in the industry.”
Panelists emphasized the manual is not intended to replace every operator’s established procedures. Instead, it provides a common reference for reviewing and strengthening existing practices, including stabilized approach criteria, commit-to-stop points, flight crew briefings and standardized callouts.
Mike Whannell, senior managing director of travel at Jack Henry, discussed the manual’s value to smaller flight departments and operators transitioning between aircraft types.
“How do we have that North Star?” he asked. “What is that one item that we can say is the industry standard? Regardless of the scale of the organization, the goal of the guide is to align the industry around those common best practices.”
Single-pilot operations can also benefit, Graham emphasized, even when one individual must perform responsibilities typically shared between two pilots. “The components are still there,” he said. “Communication, situational awareness, decision-making, judgment.”
Tim Schoenauer, CAE vice president of civil training solutions, said implementation requires standardizing hundreds of instructors across multiple training centers, as well as incorporating the manual into training curricula.
“Adoption is really tricky with a large, complex organization, not just with your mixed fleet types, but also for the Part 142s,” he said. “That’s a commitment that both FlightSafety and CAE are making, so that when your crews come through, they’ll have a standardized experience.”
“It’s not just about the callouts; it’s all about philosophy,” added Brian Small, FlightSafety International director of regulatory affairs. “How are we going to make sure that we talk about things like threat and error management? We make sure we understand how to use that.”
Initially released at last year’s NBAA-BACE, the NBAA SOP Manual was updated to Version 1.1 in February 2026 to correct errors and clarify guidance. Work is underway on Revision 2, incorporating feedback submitted by operators and other stakeholders.