This Ex-Pilot Is Building AI for the Cockpit

From the Travel Tech Podcast newsletter for episode 3, This Ex-Pilot Is Building AI for the Cockpit.

Listen to the episode here.

In this episode, I chat with Leo Kotil, founder and CEO of Overwatch AI, a former airline and business aviation pilot who’s now building AI systems for frontline aviation teams. We unpack what it actually means to run safe flight operations under real time pressure: powering up a “cold” aircraft, completing checklist discipline, and navigating the constant stream of edge cases that show up on any given day.

Leo explains why the bottleneck isn’t lack of digitization but retrieval under operational constraints. Pilots and OCC teams are dealing with thousands of pages of manuals, fragmented EFB applications, and extensive NOTAM briefings where high-signal operational constraints can be obscured by low-value information. This discussion makes clear why the problem matters: improving how critical information is accessed under time pressure is one of the most immediate, practical ways AI can enhance safety, reliability, and decision-making in aviation operations.

Key takeaways

• Operational Search Latency as Safety Constraint
• EFB Fragmentation and Manual Data Reentry
• NOTAM Noise and High-Signal Extraction
• Hybrid Inference With Offline Aviation Fallback

We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Alex Brooker, Host of the Travel Tech Podcast, Founder of Airside Labs