The vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board has been abruptly removed from his position, the White House confirmed Tuesday, a rare move that comes as the federal agency charged with investigating aviation disasters juggles more than 1,000 cases.
The Trump administration removed Alvin Brown a little more than a year after he was sworn in for a term that was expected to end in 2026. The White House didn’t say why he was removed and Brown has not publicly commented.
The decision comes as NTSB investigates nearly 1,250 active cases across the U.S., while supporting more than 160 foreign investigations, according to March testimony by NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy.
The investigations include the deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people in January and the medical transport plane that plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood that same month, killing eight people. It's also investigating the catastrophic collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024, which killed six construction workers.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and FAA accident investigator, said he has never seen an administration remove a member of the board.
Board members have been known to stay on after their term is over if the administration hasn't appointed anyone yet and then they leave once the next administration selects someone else, he said.
“That happens a lot over the years, but that’s normal and expected because you served your term and now it’s time for someone else to serve in there,” he said. "But this wasn’t that. This was just more abrupt and directly from the administration, and I don’t know what the impetus is.”
By Tuesday evening, Brown’s photo and biography had already been removed from NTSB’s website.
The agency includes five board members who serve five year terms, according to the NTSB website. They are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The chairman and vice chairman are both designated by the president and serve for three years. By Tuesday evening, the website only showed four members of the board.
Brown was sworn in as a member of the board in April 2024 after being nominated by then-President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate to fill one of two vacancies. His term was expected to run through 2026, according to an NTSB press release at the time. He was the only Black member of the board.
He was the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, from 2011 to 2015 and joined the board after serving as senior adviser for community infrastructure opportunities for the U.S. Department of Transportation, according to the release.
The NTSB is an independent federal agency responsible for investigating all civil aviation accidents as well as serious incidents in the U.S. involving other modes of transportation, such as railroad disasters and major accidents involving motor vehicles, marine vessels, pipelines and even commercial space operators.
It typically works on about 2,200 domestic and 450 foreign cases each year, according to Homendy. She said she expects “the number of cases annually to remain high and continue to increase in complexity.”
The agency has been excluded from the deferred resignation program and probationary employee cuts to downsize the federal workforce. Homendy often presents NTSB as a lean agency “that plays a vital role in ensuring public safety and protection of life and property,” although she did ask for modest budget increases last year and this year.
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Associated Press writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.
Hallie Golden, The Associated Press
