78 Turboprops Fly Into Phoenix for TBM Owners and Pilots Association Convention Centered on Flight Safety

The TBM Owners and Pilots Association (TBMOPA) held its 2026 Annual Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, and built the program around sound aeronautical decision-making. Association officials said 78 turboprops flew into Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (KPHX) for the three-day gathering. The aircraft covered the full TBM family, including the TBM 700, TBM 850 and TBM 900 series, and nine of them were newly delivered TBM 980s.

Aircraft arrived from across the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, Switzerland and South Africa. Sessions dealt with the choices pilots face before and during flight, from go/no-go determinations to hazard identification and risk mitigation, and were interactive: owners discussed real-world scenarios and practical decision-making techniques. Nigel Packham, a former NASA associate director of safety, opened the program with an analysis of the critical decisions surrounding the 2003 Columbia space shuttle accident.

JJ Suarez, TBMOPA chairman, said: "Flight safety is a responsibility that we all share, and this year's convention once again demonstrated what can be achieved when owners, operators, and the wider TBM community come together with a common purpose." Nicolas Chabbert, CEO of Daher Aircraft, said: "TBMOPA and its members are to be applauded for the commitment to advancing flight safety, especially as the TBM in-service fleet and its aviator community continue to grow."

The event also featured the first graduating class of the TBM Advanced Aviator Program (TAAP), a voluntary initiative establishing annual training and proficiency standards. The annual auction raised $360,000 to support aviation scholarships and safety seminars administered by the TBMOPA Foundation.

Type-specific owner associations occupy a distinct place in business aviation. Single-pilot turboprops are flown largely by owner-operators who are not covered by an airline-style safety department or a charter operator's training department, so peer-run programs fill part of that gap. A convention that puts go/no-go decisions and hazard identification at the center, and opens with a case study from outside aviation, treats decision quality as a skill to be rehearsed rather than a box to be checked.

The TAAP is the structural piece in this story. A voluntary program that sets annual training and proficiency standards gives owners a shared benchmark they chose themselves, and a first graduating class means the benchmark now has a track record to point to. Manufacturer leadership publicly endorsing the effort, as Daher's CEO did while noting the in-service fleet and its aviator community are growing, links the safety culture of the owner group to the health of the fleet itself.

The next marker is how the TAAP develops after its first graduating class, since the program is defined by annual standards that owners must keep meeting.