How AI is Helping Aviation Take Flight

Event ID: PP1162929

Mon, Mar 16, 2026 | 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Venue: Onyx Ballroom 1-4 (The LINE)

View on Official SXSW

Summary

The aviation industry is entering a new era as artificial intelligence reshapes how aircraft are designed, tested, and maintained. From predictive maintenance to training and safety optimization, AI is accelerating innovation and efficiency across the skies. This session explores how emerging technologies are driving smarter flight operations, enhancing pilot training, decision-making and operational safety, and unlocking data-driven breakthroughs that merge Silicon Valley ingenuity with aviation’s next frontier.

Contributors

Raw Event JSON

Large nested arrays are compacted for page readability. Full payload remains in dataset files.

Open JSON payload
{
  "id": "PP1162929",
  "track": "Tech & AI",
  "focus_area": null,
  "category": "Panel",
  "event_id": "PP1162929",
  "event_type": "panel",
  "format": "Panel",
  "genre": null,
  "subgenre": null,
  "name": "How AI is Helping Aviation Take Flight",
  "presented_by": "EPIC Aircraft",
  "publish_at": "2026-03-05T11:47:00.000-06:00",
  "reservable": true,
  "reservable_id": "PP1162929",
  "reserved": false,
  "date": "2026-03-16",
  "end_time": "2026-03-16T17:00:00.000-05:00",
  "start_time": "2026-03-16T16:00:00.000-05:00",
  "message": null,
  "image": null,
  "credentials": [
    {
      "name": "Music Badge",
      "type": "music"
    },
    {
      "name": "Platinum Badge",
      "type": "platinum"
    },
    {
      "name": "Innovation Badge",
      "type": "innovation"
    },
    {
      "name": "Film & TV Badge",
      "type": "filmtv"
    }
  ],
  "contributors": [
    {
      "id": 109553,
      "company": "CNN",
      "credential_types": [
        "filmtv",
        "innovation",
        "music"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2284718,
      "name": "Pete Muntean",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Correspondent",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Pete Muntean",
        "credit": null,
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/HpuWJnrlXn5ncEi03lMBP0uZ14w=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/f0e0243b-6d5f-afa4-1490-5c81d30cd611/pcid-732"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Pete Muntean is a CNN correspondent based in Washington, D.C., covering aviation and transportation. A pilot and flight instructor, he brings firsthand experience to his reporting. Before joining CNN in 2020, he spent a decade in local news. An Emmy Award–winning journalist, Muntean also mentors new pilots and competes in aerobatic flying competitions.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 101005,
      "company": "Navi AI",
      "credential_types": [
        "filmtv",
        "innovation",
        "music"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2267009,
      "name": "Nikola Kostic",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "CEO",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Nikola Kostic",
        "credit": null,
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/B18hoTjnDrwHp7qjJ1p4yRdf1FQ=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/f3ac3949-5f53-1f68-9755-cd9eaa62ef1d/pcid-1651646"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Nikola Kostic is the Founder & CEO of Navi AI, an aviation intelligence company building AI-powered telemetry and safety analytics for flight training, airlines, and the Department of War. A pilot himself, Nikola started Navi to tackle one of aviation's most pressing problems: turning raw flight data into actionable intelligence that makes pilots safer and training programs smarter. Navi holds an SBIR Phase 2 contract with the U.S. Air Force, is partnered with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and counts United Airlines as both an investor and strategic partner. Deployed nationwide and processing 0.5% of all flight hours flown globally, Nikola is building what he calls \"the AI infrastructure layer for aviation\" bridging civil, commercial, and military flight operations with a single data-driven platform.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 93171,
      "company": "EPIC Aircraft",
      "credential_types": [
        "filmtv",
        "innovation",
        "music"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2255958,
      "name": "Tanya Eves",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Owner & Head of Business Development",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Tanya Eves",
        "credit": null,
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/Nlk0sSoW-6osR_ZtfvSjk8gi0Zs=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/75081c83-c80d-b848-a7f0-134ad9a547b6/pcid-1642476"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Tanya Eves is the owner and Head of Business Development at Epic Aircraft, a leader in certified single-engine airplanes. Epic was the first new aircraft manufacturer in more than 20 years to certify a new airplane and deliver more than 100 aircraft. A former CEO of a large aviation group, Tanya has built her career at the intersection of aerospace, innovation, and operational efficiency. A licensed airplane and helicopter pilot, she has flown her Epic around the world, bringing both entrepreneurial insight and hands-on aviation experience to the ventures she leads. In 2019, she co-founded Decart Ventures, a venture capital firm backing technology companies focused on the transformation of aviation. In 2025, she founded FlyEpic with a goal to make private aviation more accessible through shared ownership of personal aircraft.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 92740,
      "company": "Stanford University",
      "credential_types": [
        "filmtv",
        "innovation",
        "music"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2255497,
      "name": "Mykel Kochenderfer",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Professor",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Mykel Kochenderfer",
        "credit": null,
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/DGnhTcapPgg7LgQ5F2buPp0Yt_A=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/f3a46950-d707-5ac5-42dc-3ac934657e41/pcid-1641990"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Mykel Kochenderfer is an Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He is the director of the Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory (SISL), conducting research on advanced algorithms and analytical methods for the design of robust decision making systems. His research contributed to what became the international standard for aircraft collision avoidance. Prof. Kochenderfer is a co-director of the Center for AI Safety and senior fellow of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research and associate editor of the Journal of Aerospace Information Systems. He is an author of the textbooks Decision Making under Uncertainty: Theory and Application (MIT Press, 2015), Algorithms for Optimization (MIT Press, 2019), Algorithms for Decision Making (MIT Press, 2022), and Algorithms for Validation (MIT Press, forthcoming).",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    }
  ],
  "venue": {
    "accessible": false,
    "age_policy": null,
    "floor": "2",
    "id": "V2320",
    "indoor_outdoor": "INDOOR",
    "mixhalo_url": null,
    "name": "Onyx Ballroom 1-4",
    "parent_id": "V1700",
    "parent_venue_name": "The LINE",
    "venue_entry_info": null,
    "formats": null,
    "location": {
      "address": "111 E Cesar Chavez St.",
      "lat_lon": [
        30.2626651,
        -97.7436224
      ],
      "city": "Austin",
      "postal_code": "78701",
      "state": "TX",
      "name": "The LINE"
    },
    "root": {
      "id": "V1700",
      "name": "The LINE",
      "mixhalo_url": null
    },
    "events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
  },
  "description": "The aviation industry is entering a new era as artificial intelligence reshapes how aircraft are designed, tested, and maintained. From predictive maintenance to training and safety optimization, AI is accelerating innovation and efficiency across the skies. This session explores how emerging technologies are driving smarter flight operations, enhancing pilot training, decision-making and operational safety, and unlocking data-driven breakthroughs that merge Silicon Valley ingenuity with aviation’s next frontier.",
  "experience_level": "Intermediate",
  "audio_url": null,
  "accessibility": [
    "Closed captioned"
  ],
  "accessible_venue": false,
  "add_bcl_url": false,
  "add_slido": false,
  "after_midnight": null,
  "age_policy": null,
  "american_sign_language": false,
  "apple_url": null,
  "audio_description": false,
  "caption_url": null,
  "captioned_qa": false,
  "closed_captioned": true,
  "cpe_credit": false,
  "event_status": "none",
  "has_subtitles": false,
  "hash_tags": [],
  "high_sensory_experience": false,
  "live": false,
  "long_description": "The aviation industry is entering a new era as artificial intelligence reshapes how aircraft are designed, tested, and maintained. From predictive maintenance to training and safety optimization, AI is accelerating innovation and efficiency across the skies. This session explores how emerging technologies are driving smarter flight operations, enhancing pilot training, decision-making and operational safety, and unlocking data-driven breakthroughs that merge Silicon Valley ingenuity with aviation’s next frontier.",
  "meeting_url": null,
  "meeting_url_live": false,
  "mentorly_url": null,
  "mobile_audio_url": null,
  "open_captioned": false,
  "playlist_tag": null,
  "rebroadcast": false,
  "recommended_ids": [],
  "search_conversions": null,
  "short_program": false,
  "slido_url": null,
  "sort": "HOW AI IS HELPING AVIATION TAKE FLIGHT",
  "source": "Official",
  "squad_up_url": null,
  "stream_embed": null,
  "stream_id": null,
  "stream_url": null,
  "strobe_warning": false,
  "subdiscipline": null,
  "summit": null,
  "summit_display_name": null,
  "tags": [
    {
      "id": 2114,
      "name": "Ai",
      "created_at": "2020-01-17T14:51:44.091-06:00",
      "updated_at": "2026-02-18T15:48:17.273-06:00",
      "sort": "AI",
      "alpha": "A"
    },
    {
      "id": 2576,
      "name": "Recently Added",
      "created_at": "2026-02-26T12:08:59.538-06:00",
      "updated_at": "2026-02-26T12:08:59.538-06:00",
      "sort": "RECENTLY ADDED",
      "alpha": "R"
    }
  ],
  "talent_attending": null,
  "title_only": false,
  "track_display_name": "Tech & AI",
  "trailer_id": null,
  "trailer_url": null,
  "video_on_demand": null,
  "vimeo_id": null,
  "vod": false,
  "xr_project_type": null,
  "youtube_id": null,
  "related_events": [],
  "related_sales_client": null
}