VAI Southeast Asia Aviation Safety Conference concludes in Bali with strong regional engagement Regional event advances practical safety dialogue and collaboration across Southeast Asia’s vertical aviation community. May 29, 2026, Bali, Indonesia — The Vertical Aviation International (VAI) Southeast Asia Aviation Safety Conference concluded in Bali after two and a half days of practical workshops, focused discussion, and regional collaboration aimed at strengthening helicopter and vertical aviation safety. The event brought together operators, pilots, maintainers, regulators, manufacturers, military and public-service organizations, safety professionals, and aviation leaders from across Southeast Asia. The program addressed leadership, accountability, human factors, operational risk, accident preparedness, maintenance safety, data-driven safety management, and regional hazards. VAI President and CEO François Lassale, who before joining VAI served as group managing director and CEO of SGi, Heli Niugini, and Allway Merit, based in Bali, said the conference succeeded because it created the kind of serious, practical dialogue the region needed. “This was never intended to be another safety conference,” Lassale said. “It was intended to create meaningful dialogue grounded in the realities of this region. Over the past two and a half days, the professionalism, openness, and engagement in this room proved that Southeast Asia is not short on talent, innovation, or commitment to safety.” Sessions reinforced that safety culture isn’t built through slogans, posters, or policies sitting on shelves. It is built through everyday decisions, operational discipline, and the willingness to speak up when something doesn’t feel right. “Safety culture begins with leadership, but it is sustained by everyone,” Lassale said. “It lives in the choices made in the cockpit, in the hangar, in dispatch, in the training room, and in the executive office.” Day 2 moved into a workshop format, with sessions on inadvertent IMC avoidance and recovery, VFR operational best practices, sling-load safety, limited-power operations, touchdown autorotations, advanced aeronautical decision-making, aircraft battery airworthiness, maintenance hazards, degraded situational awareness, flight data monitoring, and health and usage monitoring systems. “The value of this conference begins when people return home,” Lassale said. “One better conversation with a pilot, one stronger maintenance review, one more-conservative operational decision, one improved reporting culture, or one leader listening more carefully. Those decisions, repeated consistently, are what shape safety culture.” The conference also reflected Southeast Asia’s operational realities, including complex terrain, difficult weather, dense populations, remote operations, expanding fleets, diverse regulatory environments, and growing airspace complexity. Having flown in the region, Lassale said Southeast Asia’s demanding aviation environment is part of what makes its safety leadership so important. “Southeast Asia faces a demanding aviation environment,” Lassale said. “But demanding environments create capable professionals.” As the event closed, VAI encouraged attendees to take the lessons back to their organizations, remain connected, and continue the conversations started in Bali. The successful conclusion marked an important step in VAI’s broader effort to bring safety, education, and advocacy resources closer to aviation communities around the world. “Safety is the currency of our credibility,” Lassale reminded attendees. “What must continue to improve is how we prepare, communicate, lead, and learn from one another. Every decision made after leaving Bali matters, because each one has the power to shape the future of aviation safety across this region and around the globe.”
