Aviation Safety InfoShare - St Louis: A Debrief

The Airline Dispatchers Federation was well represented at InfoShare 2026 in St. Louis, alongside dispatch and flight operations leadership from across the carriers, industry partners, and regulators such as the FAA. We came away with a strong set of takeaways and a renewed appreciation for the value of having the dispatch chair represented at the industry table.

The dispatch and flight operations tracks covered an extraordinary range of topics with direct relevance to our craft. Highlights included:

• NTSB-led discussions on the DCA tragedy and the dispatch role in trapping threats and errors at every link in the operational chain.
• A substantive IATA briefing on the growing threat of GPS jamming and spoofing, and what it means for an industry increasingly reliant on space-based navigation.
• Cross-carrier sessions on ASAP/DSAP and LOSA programs, with multiple major carriers actively offering to partner with peers interested in standing up similar safety programs.
• Lessons learned from Southwest’s Flight Keys deployment, including the human-factors challenge of maintaining professional curiosity in highly automated environments.
• A detailed look at space launch coordination — including a recent Starship test flight that forced multiple fuel emergencies — and the gaps that still exist in getting timely information to airline operations centers.
• A look ahead at Advanced Air Mobility from Archer Aviation, who notably are requiring their operations managers to hold an Aircraft Dispatcher Certificate.
• A leadership panel featuring the NTSB Vice Chair alongside senior dispatch leaders, focused on maintaining currency and avoiding complacency in an increasingly automated industry.

We were also honored to see Jeff Donaldson receive the Mosby Award, and to participate in the memorial brick presentations honoring Steve Caisse (ADF) and former PAFCA President Kevin Thompson (PAFCA).

InfoShare is hosted regularly throughout the year and offers some of the highest-value continuing education and peer engagement available to working dispatchers. The conversations that happen at these events shape the safety culture of our industry — and they’re materially better when dispatchers are at the table.

If your operation supports your attendance at a future InfoShare, we strongly encourage you to go. Keep an eye out for upcoming dates, and reach out to ADF leadership if you’d like to discuss any of the sessions above in more depth or are interested in getting more involved on these topics.