Skyryse, a California-based aviation technology startup company, has introduced Skylar, an AI flight assistant that integrates with the maker’s SkyOS operating system. The technology is designed to reduce pilot workload, simplify communications, and improve safety across a wide range of aircraft, the company said.
Skylar is designed to function as an always-on copilot, supporting the pilot through all phases of flight. It listens to and interprets air traffic control (ATC) and Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) communications, transcribing them in real time and suggesting appropriate responses. Instead of manually tuning radios and entering instructions, a pilot can confirm a command and allow the aircraft to respond through the SkyOS Autoflight function.
For example, if ATC directs an airplane to climb to 8,000 feet, the pilot can approve the instruction with a swipe or tap. Skylar then engages the flight control system to begin the climb.
The assistant also monitors traffic through ADS-B, builds and files optimized flight plans, automates checklists, and calculates fuel burn based on speed and actual and forecast weather conditions. It does this by checking forecasts and pilot reports along a route and alerting the crew to significant weather hazards such as icing or thunderstorms. Because Skylar is tied directly to SkyOS hardware, it can also detect anomalies in the aircraft’s systems and flag them before or during flight.
The design is aircraft-agnostic, meaning it can be used in helicopters or airplanes, across commercial fleets, military operators, emergency services, or private aircraft, Skyryse said.
Why this matters
The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that human error plays a role in as high as 80% of aviation incidents and accidents, with communication breakdowns among the most common contributors. Skyryse says Skylar addresses this problem by continuously processing data and presenting clear, contextual information to pilots.
Unlike traditional cockpit tools that feed data to the pilot in separate pieces, Skylar is designed to bring information together and organize it into a single, usable stream. The goal is not to replace the pilot but to make flying less complex and more predictable, the company said.
“Pilots are still in control,” said Mark Groden, founder and CEO of Skyryse. “But with Skylar, they no longer have to juggle dozens of tasks at once. We want to close the gap between the complexity of flight and the technology that supports it.”
How it works
Skylar runs on SkyOS, which Skyryse calls the world’s first universal operating system for flight. SkyOS manages flight controls, engine systems, navigation, and localization. It is built on what the company calls deterministic artificial intelligence — a rules-based approach that produces the same output for the same input every time. Skylar adds a layer of large language model capability, allowing the system to parse natural speech and generate context-aware responses.
By combining AI with language models, Skylar offers predictability with flexibility. Pilots can interact with it much like they might with digital assistants on their phones or cars, but benefit from an aviation-specific knowledge base.
Skylar’s introduction comes at a time when the aviation industry is debating how far artificial intelligence should be taken in the cockpit. AI is already common in predictive maintenance and airline scheduling, but its use in the cockpit is limited so far.
In the future, AI could assist pilots by automatically prioritizing alerts, adapting checklists to specific situations, and even learning from global flight data to recommend safer procedures. It might one day provide real-time translations of ATC instructions in different languages, or automatically negotiate with air traffic systems to reduce delays.
Critics warn against overreliance on automation, citing cases where pilots have lost situational awareness. Skyryse stresses that Skylar is not about removing the human from the loop, but about making the loop more manageable.
Skyryse said it will showcase Skylar and other SkyOS configurations at NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas from October 14-16, 2025. The company has signed partnerships with organizations including Air Methods, CAL FIRE, and the US Army, and has raised more than $300 million from financial backers including Fidelity and Venrock.
