NTSB member says Trump admin fired him without explanation, 2nd member dismissed in past 10 months

A National Transportation Safety Board member said that the Trump administration fired him without an explanation.

Todd Inman on Sunday said in a statement that he received notice Friday from the White House personnel office that his position on the NTSB was “terminated effective immediately,” and he had not been given a reason for his firing, The Associated Press reported.

The NTSB is supposed to have five members on it, but its website on Sunday showed just three members. The NTSB's vice chair, Alvin Brown, was abruptly removed in May 2025.

The White House did not immediately respond to the AP's request for comment.

Inman was the lead NTSB member of the investigations into last year’s crash of a UPS cargo plane in Kentucky that killed 15 people, and the January 2025 midair collision between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people.

He said that having been the NTSB 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,” Inman said.

He also 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,” Inman said.