NTSB Member Says He Was Fired by White House

Abrupt dismissal came with no advance notice or explanation.

Zach Vasile

Monday, March 09, 2026 at 09:30 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

J. Todd Inman at an NTSB press conference [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

NTSB member J. Todd Inman, prominent in the response to last year's fatal midair collision over Washington, D.C., was abruptly fired by the White House without explanation, two years into his five-year term.
This dismissal follows a previous "abrupt removal" of NTSB vice chair Alvin Brown by the same administration, which aviation experts consider an unusual instance of a president directly intervening to reshape the safety agency.
Inman, in his statement, praised the NTSB's staff and expressed hope that the agency's leadership remains true to its roots and culture, unimpeded by political or personal agendas.

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A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member who became the public face of the agency’s response to the fatal midair collision over Washington, D.C., last year was apparently fired by the White House late last week.

In a statement, J. Todd Inman said he received notice from the White House Presidential Personnel Office on Friday that his position was “terminated effective immediately.” The notice was conveyed on behalf of President Donald Trump, Inman said.

“To date, I have not received any reason for this termination,” Inman wrote.

Inman was two years into what is normally a five-year term.

The apparent dismissal comes only two weeks after the U.S. Senate voted to confirm American Airlines executive John DeLeeuw as the newest member of the NTSB. DeLeeuw was nominated by Trump in September.

DeLeeuw will fill a vacancy left by the White House’s similarly abrupt removal of NTSB vice chair Alvin Brown in May 2025. Brown, a Democrat who previously served as mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, was appointed by former President Joe Biden.

Trump has never explained why he moved to oust Brown, who is suing the administration over his removal. Aviation experts said at the time that they could not recall a recent instance of a president directly intervening to reshape the composition of the NTSB.

In his statement, Inman praised the NTSB while acknowledging that witnessing the aftermath of horrific air accidents had “taken a toll” on him and his family and changed his perspective on safety regulation.

“My thanks to staff and investigators at the NTSB,” he wrote. “They are truly 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.”

Inman was the initial on-scene spokesman for the NTSB following the collision of an American Airlines passenger flight and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in January 2025. He was also the lead board member in the investigation into the crash of a UPS MD-11 in Louisville, Kentucky, that killed a total of 15 people.