The White House on Monday removed National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chair Alvin Brown, according to Reuters.
It was not immediately clear why Brown was dismissed, and he has not publicly commented on the matter. A White House source reportedly confirmed the removal to Reuters.
Brown is a Democrat who previously served as mayor of Jacksonville, Florida. He was appointed to the five-person board in March 2024, and in December, he was named vice chair by former President Joe Biden.
Board members usually serve five-year terms. Brown is still listed on the agency’s website.
The NTSB is led by Chair Jennifer Homendy, who assumed office in 2021. She was also appointed by Biden.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has fired a number of officials overseeing independent agencies, including leaders at the National Security Agency, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Credit Union Administration, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the National Labor Relations Board. In some cases his dismissals have been reversed by court orders and officials reinstated.
The NTSB is currently investigating a number of high-profile accidents involving aircraft, including a collision between an American Eagle flight and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C. that killed 67 people and the crash of a helicopter on a sightseeing tour of New York City that killed six people.
