NTSB member says he was fired without explanation by the Trump
administration
[March 09, 2026]
WASHINGTON (AP) — A National Transportation Safety Board
member who was a public face of the investigation into last year's
deadly collision of an airliner and an Army helicopter near the nation's
capital said Sunday that he had been fired by the Trump administration
without explanation.
Todd Inman said in a statement that he received notice Friday from the
White House personnel office that his position on the board was
"terminated effective immediately.” He said he had not yet received a
reason for his firing.
The White House had no immediate response to a message left by The
Associated Press seeking comment.
The NTSB has a five-person board but its website on Sunday showed just
three members. The board's vice chair, Alvin Brown, was abruptly removed
last year.
Brown and Robert Primus, who served on the U.S. Surface Transportation
Board, were the only Black board members overseeing their respective
independent agencies when they were fired last year. Both have
challenged their firings in court, and the group Democracy Forward has
filed discrimination claims on behalf of the men.
When Brown was fired, experts said they couldn’t remember such a firing
from the NTSB.
The White House previously has said that Trump was within his legal
rights to fire Brown and Primus and that performance, not bias, drove
the decisions.
The NTSB is tasked by Congress with investigating aviation accidents and
significant rail, highway, pipeline and other disasters to determine
their probable causes and make recommendations aimed at avoiding similar
incidents. The NTSB currently investigating nearly 1,250 cases.
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National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman speaks with
reporters at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Feb. 1,
2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)
Inman also was the lead board member of the investigation into last
year's crash of a UPS cargo plane in Kentucky that killed 15 people.
After major incidents, the board sends a member to the crash site
for initial briefings and to oversee the initial investigation. The
January 2025 midair collision between the passenger jet and Army
helicopter killed 67 people.
In his statement, Inman said having been the board member on scene
“for two of the largest aviation incidents in the past two decades,
working with all of the impacted families and first responders has
made me appreciate how the original mission of the NTSB is more
crucial now than ever before.”
“Witnessing these horrible accidents have undoubtedly taken a toll
on me and my family and has changed my perspective in a positive way
on how we regulate safety for the traveling public,” he said.
Inman praised the NTSB staff and investigators as “world class.”
“My only hope is that the NTSB leadership and those who control it
stay true to its roots and culture as the preeminent safety
organization unimpeded by political or personal agendas,” he wrote.
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