NTSB acting director of aviation safety and chief data officer Warren Randolph urged closer cooperation between government and industry, and wider use of safety data, at the Greater Washington Business Aviation Association’s 2026 Safety Day. He said timely access to investigation reports, findings, dockets and recommendations can help business aviation operators incorporate lessons into their safety management systems, as the improvement in general aviation’s fatal accident rate begins to flatten.
The NTSB is working to make its material available more efficiently. Its CAROL online tool lets organisations filter safety information for relevant fleets, landing facilities and other areas. Randolph linked information sharing to the decline in the fatal accident rate, while stressing that trust and protections for shared information are necessary for continued cooperation among the agency, the FAA and industry. No new rule or implementation deadline was announced.
The agency is also at an early stage of using artificial intelligence where appropriate. Human review will remain part of the process; AI-assisted transcription, for example, is checked by NTSB scientists. Randolph said the agency uses closed models to protect sensitive information.
He also discussed the NTSB’s ongoing investigation of a Learjet 60 that crashed near Lake Worth Beach, Florida, on 1 November. Investigators are examining the debris spread, weather and the possibility of an in-flight breakup. The investigation remains preliminary, and no conclusions have been reached.