Tony Kern Raises Black Flag for Aviation Safety

Dressed as a pirate, Tony Kern opened Bombardier Safety Standdown 2025 on Tuesday with a hearty “Good morning! How arrre ye?” and launching into a presentation that linked 17th-century pirate culture to modern aviation safety and leadership, with almost no pirate dialect.

In his keynote, “Under the Black Flag: Lessons on Performance and Culture from Men Without a Country,” Kern—founding partner and CEO of Convergent Performance and a standing fixture of annual Safety Standdown events—explored how the discipline, teamwork, and shared accountability of seafaring crews mirror the foundations of high-reliability flight operations. “What can we learn from pirates?” he asked. “Turns out, quite a lot.”

Kern reminded the audience that pirates operated “with life and death on the line if they didn’t perform as a synchronized team.” Comparing the sea to “the first sky,” he said, “Aviation really came from the sea…we share a common mindset. Once you get the gear up, it’s all on you.”

He built his talk around the 11-article code of pirate captain Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, drawing parallels between the centuries-old code and aviation professionalism. Article One—equal voice and fair access—became a call for participation in safety. “Every professional has the right, better said, the duty, to speak up in matters of safety, operations, ethics, quality—all the things that we’re supposed to be looking at every day,” Kern said.

Each article offered a modern reflection: integrity and trust; avoiding recklessness; proper rest; maintaining tools and readiness; managing distraction; mental engagement; and respect among crewmembers. On managing distraction, he was blunt about how “harassment, coercion, or manipulation of any colleague, especially those in vulnerable positions” is our own version of distraction. “We are way too tolerant of harassment in our industry. We say we’re not, but…that’s your challenge. It’s my challenge.”

Addressing Article Four, he reminded pilots that “fatigue impacts us all,” and that “the best thing you can bring to any team is the best version of yourself.” He tied Article Seven—no desertion—to mental presence: “When we mentally desert and we check out, it’s hard to quickly pull yourself back into situational awareness mindset,” he said.

Kern punctuated his message with humor and storytelling, weaving anecdotes from his U.S. Air Force days—including an unplanned supersonic flyover of the USAF Academy football game—to illustrate lessons in accountability. He used the anecdote to underscore that crews should never launch without full preparation.

As his talk progressed, Kern connected the pirates’ success to aviation’s safety evolution. He argued that Black Bart’s leadership created a culture of trust and discipline that gave his crew a clear competitive advantage. He contrasted mere compliance with the code to commitment to a cause, which he said is what inspires people to bring their best.

He urged leaders to ensure rest and renewal, likening the pirates’ Sunday respite to aviation’s need for mental health awareness. “It’s not a badge of honor to have somebody come up at the end of the year with 21 days of vacation they haven’t used,” he said, asserting that rest and renewal are integral to high performance.

In his closing 15 minutes, Kern distilled the message into a thesis that tied the pirate code to the Safety Standdown theme, “Own the Outcome.” Living by a code, he said, defines professionalism. “Living by a code is hard, but living without one might be harder. Professionalism is hard. Unprofessionalism will eventually be much harder.”

He also challenged attendees to build intuition, citing CIA veteran Shawnee Delaney’s wisdom: “When you get a gut feeling something’s wrong, you’re not overreacting—you’re almost always underestimating the real threat.”

Warning against complacency, he noted that most pirates “died in their safe havens,” drawing a parallel to routine flights or familiar operations. “Beware of the safe haven where high performers go to die,” he said. “Complacency has always been a killer.”

To close, Kern returned to purpose and legacy: “We each get to choose our ‘hard.’ Let’s choose to be men and women that build upon the legacy of those who came before.” He urged attendees to live by a personal code, build and trust their intuition, fight complacency, build strong teams, and “own the outcome.”