New PersonalEffects application lets people affected by a disaster search for and claim a loved one’s belongings in their own words, while giving operators complete, traceable oversight of every item, from recovery to return
London, UK / Houston, TX, July 20, 2026 - TrustFlight, the Aerospace Safety Intelligence Platform, today announced the launch of PersonalEffects, a new artificial intelligence application developed for Kenyon, its crisis management and response capability. The launch marks Kenyon’s 120th anniversary and reflects TrustFlight’s continued investment in bringing advanced technology to the most human parts of aerospace crisis response.
After a major incident, few things matter more to a grieving family than the return of a loved one’s belongings: a wedding ring, a child’s drawing, a worn prayer book. Yet for the people affected, recovering those items has too often meant hours spent chasing information, explaining their circumstances, waiting in queues, or searching through printed catalogues of recovered property at one of the most painful moments of their lives. PersonalEffects is built to remove that burden.
A more compassionate experience for the people affected
With PersonalEffects, individuals and families can search for belongings the way they actually remember them, by describing an item in their own words, such as the pattern on a dress, or by matching it to a photograph of where it came from, including images of items from the store where they were bought. They can submit a claim through a simple self-service process and track its status centrally, rather than repeatedly contacting the response team for updates. Throughout, the application maintains the privacy and security controls that sensitive personal information demands, so families retain confidence that their information, and their loved one’s belongings, are protected.
The result is a calmer, more dignified experience at a moment of profound distress: less time chasing, less repetition, less waiting, and a faster route to being reunited with items that are, in human terms, irreplaceable.
“Personal effects management is the part of our work that families remember longest,” said Karl Steeves, CEO, TrustFlight. “Our entire reason for building PersonalEffects was to make that experience gentler for the people living through the worst day of their lives. It means a family no longer has to relive their circumstances every time they ask a question, or page through a printed catalogue hoping to recognise something. They can simply describe what they are looking for, and we help them find it, with the care and the privacy they deserve.”
For the responders who carry out this work, the application removes hours of manual cataloguing and lets them spend their time where it matters most: with the families themselves.
“When you are standing with a family, the worst thing you can do is make them wait while you search through records,” said Kathy Ricker, Responder Manager, Kenyon. “PersonalEffects means we can answer a parent describing their child’s belongings in the moment, not hours later. It does not change why we do this work or the care we bring to it. It gives us back the time to be human.”
Confidence and oversight for the organisations responding
For an operator, the days after an incident are defined by a duty to the people affected and by intense scrutiny of how that duty is met. PersonalEffects gives the responding organisation complete visibility and record keeping across the entire lifecycle of an item, from recovery and cataloguing through claim validation to shipment back to the family. Every action taken on every item is logged, producing a single, traceable history rather than a fragmented trail across spreadsheets, emails, and printed records.
That oversight is what an organisation most needs when it matters: the confidence that every belonging is accounted for at every stage, the assurance that sensitive personal information is handled in line with privacy obligations, and a clear, evidenced record of the service provided to each family. It means an operator can answer a family’s question with certainty, demonstrate to regulators and investigators exactly how an item was handled, and know that the most personal part of its response is being managed to the standard the moment demands. The work still rests on Kenyon’s responders and a century of operational discipline; PersonalEffects gives the organisation a clear line of sight over all of it.
Built on TrustFlight’s investment in AI
PersonalEffects has been built and funded as part of TrustFlight’s wider investment in AI-driven operational intelligence across the platform, the same technology philosophy that powers its safety, compliance, and regulatory products. It is a direct expression of TrustFlight’s commitment to equipping Kenyon, a capability with 120 years of operational heritage, with the most capable technology available.
“When we brought Kenyon into the TrustFlight platform, we made a commitment to invest in its people and its technology,” said Amir Kusedghi, CIO, TrustFlight. “PersonalEffects is what that commitment looks like in practice. We are applying the same AI capability that sits at the heart of our safety intelligence platform to one of the most human problems in our industry: getting families back the things that matter, faster and with the dignity they deserve.”
How PersonalEffects works
- Capture: Responders photograph each recovered item at the point of cataloguing, and machine learning models automatically identify and tag its distinguishing features, removing hours of manual data entry.
- Search: People affected search for belongings in their own words, such as a pattern on a dress, or by matching them to photographs, including images from the store an item was bought from.
- Claim: Families submit claims through a simple self-service process and track the status centrally, without repeated calls or repeated explanations.
- Protect: Privacy and security controls safeguard sensitive personal information at every stage.
- Account: Operators gain end-to-end visibility and a complete, traceable history of every item, from recovery and cataloguing through claim validation to shipment, supporting SLA adherence and privacy obligations.
Throughout, the technology sits within the chain-of-custody and documentation standards Kenyon has maintained for more than a century, supporting the human process, never replacing it.
PersonalEffects is available as part of Kenyon’s crisis management and response capability, deployable alongside family assistance, crisis communications, and fatality operations within hours of an incident, for the more than 500 organisations that maintain Kenyon as their crisis response provider.
To learn more about Kenyon Emergency Services, please visit kenyoninternational.com. To learn more about TrustFlight, please visit www.trustflight.com.
About Kenyon
Kenyon is the crisis management and response capability of TrustFlight. For 120 years, Kenyon has supported organisations and families through the world’s most demanding incidents, deploying responders across hundreds of events in 170 countries. Its services span emergency planning, family assistance, crisis communications, personal effects management, and fatality operations, delivered by an experienced bench of responders and underpinned by the TrustFlight platform.
About TrustFlight
TrustFlight is the Aerospace Safety Intelligence Platform, integrating safety and security technology, training and consulting, and crisis management and response into a single connected ecosystem.
Serving more than 1,600 organisations in 120 countries, TrustFlight delivers operational intelligence and the expertise to act on it. The platform combines SaaS workflow automation, AI-driven regulatory intelligence, and 24/7 crisis response to support airports, operators, MROs, OEMs, and regulators. TrustFlight helps aerospace organisations close critical gaps between disconnected tools and providers, where risk can accumulate. To learn more, please visit www.trustflight.com.
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Media contact
Reuben Mann
TrustFlight
reuben.mann@trustflight.com
+1-778-818-0180