NBAA-BACE Keynote Highlights Safety, Unity

The 2025 NBAA-BACE keynote session opened with a clear message from NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen: Safety is aviation’s enduring foundation. “We have a core value. We have a number-one priority, and that is safety—safety first, safety always,” he told the audience in Las Vegas.

Reflecting on a series of early-2025 accidents—including the January 29 midair collision over the Potomac River and other fatal crashes—Bolen said the events rocked the industry and demanded a renewed commitment. “We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to do it right now,” he said. 

The industry’s collective response, he added, has been marked by self-examination and unity. “Business aviation and all of aviation did what it does—we came together,” he said, noting that this renewed focus on safety has also strengthened alignment on building a new air traffic control system supported by airlines, airports, labor, and government leaders across political lines.

Bolen framed the safety mission within the larger purpose of aviation as an economic and human connector. “We are a powerful engine for the U.S. economy,” he said. “We create jobs, we provide economic development, and we help companies be efficient and productive in an intensely competitive marketplace.”

That message carried through his conversation with this year’s Meritorious Service to Aviation award recipient: Steuart Walton. The co-founder of Game Composites and a longtime advocate for aviation access and innovation, Walton spoke about the importance of community as the true foundation for growth. “Aviation is an unparalleled platform to provide inspiration,” he said. “The more people that come into it, the stronger it gets.”

Walton described his work developing Bentonville, Arkansa’s Thaden Fieldhouse and the Fly Oz backcountry network as part of an effort to make aviation accessible to people from all backgrounds. “Whether you’re a pilot or not, whether you’re into aviation or just curious, it’s kind of a starting point for all kinds of different journeys,” he said.

Bolen agreed, emphasizing that aviation’s strength lies in its people and its shared mission. “At the end of the day, business aviation, in addition to connecting places, connects people,” the NBAA leader said.

Bolen also underscored how the aviation community’s response to tragedy consistently reinforces its unity. “We looked at root causes, we looked at promoting a just culture, and we looked at how we could make sure we were safer tomorrow than even we are today,” he said. “That’s what makes our community strong.”

Closing the keynote, country music artist and pilot Dierks Bentley brought humor and reflection to the stage, blending stories from his music career and flying life. Bentley recalled driving his daughter to school years ago, frustrated about a day spent “trying to rhyme words with whiskey and truck.” When she asked him, “Do you got to, or do you get to?” the moment reshaped his outlook. “Every time I step in a plane,” he said, “it’s not a ‘got to,’ it’s a ‘get to.’”

Later, Bentley returned to that theme, connecting it to aviation’s deeper meaning. “When people ask what aviation means to me,” he said, “it just all goes back to that morning with my daughter…I get to fly, I get to chase dreams, and then I get to come home.”

“I get to do this because all the people who keep business aviation alive and thriving,” he continued. “Aviation isn’t just transportation. It’s possibility. It’s the path that connects our work with our families, our passions to our purpose, and when we do it right, we stay grateful. The sky stops being the limit. It becomes the pathway.”

After a pause to let the audience absorb this, his puckish side returned. “Okay, I didn’t write that,” he announced, drawing laughter from the audience. “That’s all ChatGPT…I love that alliteration. All those P sounds–PPP. Passions, purpose, pathway. NBAA 2026. Ed, you’re welcome to use that.”