EASA’s Annual Safety Conference 2018 was closed by Executive Director Patrick Ky yesterday, setting out the Agency’s commitments as part of GA Roadmap 2.0 for a truly innovative, better, cheaper and safer General Aviation (GA) in Europe! Conveying a great sense of community and energetic spirit, the 2-day conference on GA provided a fruitful ground for a positive and much needed cooperation between all stakeholders to take on the challenges that come with the innovation of GA.

The conference took place in Vienna coinciding with the country’s Presidency of the Council of the EU. 300 people from across the European GA Community came together to engage with the Agency on the evolution of General Aviation in a world full of exciting technological developments. A substantial range of European GA manufacturers, developers of hybrid and solar-powered aircraft but also of air taxis and other UAV, cost-sharing platforms as well as GA associations and policy representatives participated in the panels.

In a truly collaborative spirit, the successes and challenges of the GA Roadmap – EASA’s action plan of the past 4 years following the Rome Conference on GA – were reviewed. Panel discussions focused on how to develop more affordable modern aircraft, the latest innovations, as well as on how to share the airspace of the future and how new business models can be encouraged to improve safety.

Keynote speaker André Borschberg, world record holder for the highest solar-powered flight and for the longest solo-flight in an airplane of any kind, held an inspiring talk that anticipated the energetic and seminal nature of this year’s Annual Safety Conference.