WASHINGTON (AP) — A National Transportation Safety Board member said Sunday he has been fired by the Trump administration without giving an explanation. He was involved in the investigation into last year’s fatal collision between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter near the capital.
Todd Inman said in a statement that he received notification from the White House Personnel Office on Friday that his position with the board was “immediately terminated.” He said he has not yet received a reason for his dismissal.
The White House did not immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The National Transportation Safety Board has a five-member board, but its website on Sunday showed only three members. Board Vice Chairman Alvin Brown was abruptly ousted last year.
Brown and Robert Primus, who had served on the Surface Transportation Board, were the only Black board members overseeing their separate agencies when they were fired last year. Both men are challenging their dismissals in court, with Democracy Forward bringing discrimination charges on their behalf.
When Brown was fired, experts said they could not recall such a firing from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The White House has previously said Trump had the legal right to fire Brown and Primus and that performance, not bias, was driving those decisions.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is tasked by Congress with investigating aviation accidents and major rail, highway, pipeline and other disasters to determine their possible causes and make recommendations aimed at avoiding similar incidents. The NTSB is currently investigating nearly 1,250 cases.
Inman was also a key board member of the investigation into last year’s UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky that killed 15 people. After a major incident, the board sends a member to the crash site to conduct an initial briefing and oversee the initial investigation. In January 2025, a mid-air collision between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter killed 67 people.
Inman said in the statement that as a board member, “working with all the families and first responders affected during two of the largest aviation accidents of the past two decades has made me realize that the NTSB’s original mission is more important now than ever.”
“Witnessing these horrific accidents has undoubtedly taken a toll on me and my family and has changed my perspective in a positive way on how to regulate public travel safety,” he said.
Inman praised the National Transportation Safety Board staff and investigators as “world-class.”
“My only hope is that the leadership and those in control of the NTSB stay true to its roots and culture as a preeminent safety organization and are not encumbered by political or personal agendas,” he wrote.
