Robert L. Sumwalt | |
---|---|
14th Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board | |
In office August 10, 2017 –June 30, 2021 | |
President | Donald Trump Joe Biden |
Deputy | Bruce Landsberg |
Preceded by | Christopher A. Hart |
Succeeded by | Jennifer Homendy |
Member of the National Transportation Safety Board | |
In office August 21,2006 –June 30,2021 | |
President | George W. Bush Barack Obama Donald Trump Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Richard F. Healing |
Succeeded by | Alvin Brown |
Personal details | |
Born | Robert Llewellyn Sumwalt III June 30,1956 Columbia,South Carolina,U.S. |
Relations | Robert L. Sumwalt (grandfather) |
Parent | Robert L. Sumwalt Jr. (father) |
Education | University of South Carolina (BS) Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (MS) |
Robert Llewellyn Sumwalt III (born June 30,1956) is an American academic,aviator,government official and writer. He was a board member of the National Transportation Safety Board for over 15 years,from August 2006 to June 30,2021, [1] serving as the agency's chairman from 2017 to 2021. [2] He currently serves as the executive director of Embry-Riddle's Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety. [3]
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Aeronautical Science (with Distinction) from Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University,specializing in Aviation/Aerospace Safety Systems and Human Factors Aviation Systems. [4]
Sumwalt began his career as an airline pilot,working for 24 years with Piedmont Airlines and US Airways. He logged over 14,000 flight hours and earned type ratings in five aircraft. [5] After his airline career,he joined SCANA,a Fortune 500 energy company,where he managed its corporate aviation department. [6]
Sumwalt worked on special assignment to the US Airways Flight Safety Department where he was involved in the development of numerous airline-safety programs. He served on the US Airways Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) Monitoring Team. [7]
Sumwalt served as an air safety representative for Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) for 17 years where he chaired ALPA's Human Factors and Training Group. He was a co-founder of that organization's Critical Incident Response Program,which provides guidance to airline personnel involved in traumatic events such as accidents.
From 1991 to 1999,Sumwalt conducted aviation-safety research as a consultant to NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System,where he studied flight-crew human factors.
Sumwalt co-authored a book on aircraft accidents and he wrote chapters pertaining to aircraft accident investigation in two books. He has written extensively on aviation-safety matters,having published over 90 articles and papers.
In 2003,Sumwalt joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Aviation Safety and Security Program,where he was the primary human-factors instructor.
He was sworn in as the 37th member of the National Transportation Safety Board on August 21,2006, [8] whereupon President George W. Bush designated him as vice chairman of the board for a two-year term. [9] In November 2011,President Barack Obama reappointed Sumwalt to an additional five-year term. [10] In March 2017,President Donald Trump reappointed Sumwalt to a five-year term expiring on December 31,2021 and designated him as Vice Chairman for a term of two years. [11] President Trump subsequently nominated Sumwalt to be NTSB chairman,and in August 2017,the U.S. Senate confirmed Sumwalt to be NTSB's 14th chairman. In 2019,President Trump again nominated him for Chairman of the NTSB. He was reconfirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2019 for a three-year term as Chairman. He succeeded Christopher A. Hart in this role. [2]
While on the board,he was an advocate for improving safety in all modes of transportation,including teen-driver safety,impaired driving,distractions in transportation,and several rail-safety initiatives. [9]
In 2018 while discussing Air Canada Flight 759,Sumwalt described NOTAMs as "a bunch of garbage that nobody pays any attention to". This led to an initiative to reform the NOTAM system. [12]
Sumwalt retired from chairmanship and membership of NTSB on June 30,2021. [1] In addition to his current role with Embry-Riddle,Sumwalt is a safety analyst with CBS News [13] and volunteer board member of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure. [14] [15]
In recognition of his contributions to the aviation industry,in September 2021,Sumwalt was awarded the Flight Safety Foundation - Boeing Aviation Safety Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received the Flight Safety Foundation's Laura Taber Barbour Award in 2003 and ALPA's Air Safety Award in 2005. He is a 2009 inductee into the South Carolina Aviation Hall of Fame. In recognition of his accomplishments,Sumwalt was awarded an honorary Doctor in Science degree from the University of South Carolina and an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. [16]
A NOTAM is a notice filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight. NOTAMs are notices or advisories that contain information concerning the establishment, conditions or change in any aeronautical facility, service, procedure or hazard, the timely knowledge of which may be essential to personnel and systems concerned with flight operations.
Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 was a regularly scheduled Allegheny Airlines flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to St. Louis, Missouri, with stops in Baltimore, Maryland, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana. On September 9, 1969, the aircraft serving the flight, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, collided in mid-air with a Piper PA-28 light aircraft near Fairland, Indiana. The DC-9 was carrying 78 passengers and 4 crew members, and the Piper was leased to a student pilot on a solo cross-country flight. All 83 occupants of both aircraft were killed in the accident and both aircraft were destroyed.
Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 was a controlled flight into terrain accident of a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 during approach to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. The accident occurred on September 11, 1974, killing 72 of the 82 people on board. The scheduled flight was from Charleston Municipal Airport to Chicago O'Hare, with an intermediate stop in Charlotte.
In aviation, the sterile flight deck rule or sterile cockpit rule is a procedural requirement that during critical phases of flight, only activities required for the safe operation of the aircraft may be carried out by the flight crew, and all non-essential activities in the cockpit are forbidden. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed the rule in 1981, after reviewing a series of accidents that were caused by flight crews who were distracted from their flying duties by engaging in non-essential conversations and activities during critical parts of the flight.
Francis H. McAdams, Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a longtime member of the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). He joined the board on July 31, 1967, having been nominated a few months earlier by President Lyndon Johnson, and was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 20, 1978.
Continental Express Flight 2574 was a scheduled domestic passenger airline flight operated by Britt Airways from Laredo International Airport in Laredo, Texas to Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston, Texas. On September 11, 1991, the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia turboprop, registered N33701, crashed while initiating its landing sequence, killing all 14 people on board. The aircraft wreckage hit an area near Eagle Lake, Texas, approximately 65 miles (105 km) west-southwest of the airport.
Gregory Allen Feith is an American former Senior Air Safety Investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). He currently works as a consultant on aviation safety and security matters in the private sector, and as the aviation expert for NBC and MSNBC. He also serves as the technical advisor in a number of television programs such as Mayday, Seconds from Disaster, and Why Planes Crash while maintaining a busy speaking schedule.
Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 was a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter that crashed at 5:50 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22, 1968, in the city of Paramount, California. All twenty passengers and three crew members were killed. The aircraft was destroyed by impact and fire. The probable cause of the accident was a mechanical failure in the blade rotor system, which then allowed one blade to strike the side of the fuselage. As a result, the other four blades were thrown out of balance. All five rotor blades then broke and the rear fuselage and tail separated from the rest of the airframe. The cause of the mechanical failure is undetermined. At the time, it was the worst helicopter-related accident in U.S. aviation history, not to be surpassed until the 1986 Grand Canyon mid-air collision which killed 25.
Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach is a residential campus of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, a private university focused on aviation and aerospace programs, and it is located in Daytona Beach, Florida. The university offers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs in arts, sciences, aviation, business, and engineering.
AVAir Flight 3378, was a scheduled flight under the American Eagle branding from Raleigh–Durham International Airport to Richmond International Airport which crashed after takeoff from Raleigh-Durham International Airport late on the night of February 19, 1988. All 12 people on board were killed in the accident.
Vieques Air Link Flight 901A was a flight from Vieques Airport in Vieques, Puerto Rico, to St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands that crashed on August 2, 1984, killing all nine passengers and crew on board.
UPS Airlines Flight 1354 (5X1354/UPS1354) was a scheduled cargo flight from Louisville, Kentucky, to Birmingham, Alabama. On August 14, 2013, the Airbus A300 flying the route crashed and burst into flames short of the runway on approach to Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport. Both pilots were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. They were the only people aboard the aircraft. It was the second fatal air crash for UPS Airlines.
Flagship Airlines Flight 3379 was a scheduled flight under the American Eagle branding from Piedmont Triad International Airport to Raleigh–Durham International Airport during which a British Aerospace Jetstream crashed while executing a missed approach to the Raleigh–Durham International Airport on the evening of Tuesday, December 13, 1994. The two pilots and 13 passengers died in the crash; five passengers survived with serious injuries.
On September 23, 1985, Henson Airlines Flight 1517 crashed in Grottoes, Virginia, while on approach to the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport. The two pilots and twelve passengers were killed.
Christopher A. Hart is an American lawyer, government official, and pilot. He served as the 13th chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. He served as Acting NTSB Chairman beginning April 26, 2014, and in June 2014 was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Chairman of the NTSB. He was confirmed to serve as chairman on February 5, 2015. Robert Sumwalt succeeded him as chairman in August 2017.
Beverley Drake is a Guyanese pilot and aviation expert who is an administrator and accident investigation analyst with the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). She was one of the first two woman pilots to work in the Guyana Defence Force, first woman commercial pilot of Guyana Airways, and was the first and only black woman to serve as a senior aviation accident investigator for the NTSB. She serves as the manager of the Federal Women's Program of the NTSB and program director of the Industry and Government Affairs division of the NTSB.
On July 7, 2017, an Airbus A320-211 operating as Air Canada Flight 759 was nearly involved in an accident at San Francisco International Airport in San Mateo County, California, United States. The flight, which originated at Toronto Pearson International Airport, had been cleared by air traffic control to land on runway 28R and was on final approach to land on that runway; however, instead of lining up with the runway, the aircraft had lined up with the parallel taxiway, on which four fully loaded and fueled passenger airplanes were stopped awaiting takeoff clearance. The flight crew initiated a go-around prior to landing, after which it landed on 28R without further incident. The aircraft on the taxiway departed for their intended destinations without further incident. The subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the Air Canada airplane descended to 59 feet (18 m) above the ground before it began its climb, and that it missed colliding with one of the aircraft on the taxiway by 14 feet (4.3 m).
Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 901, was a scheduled international flight operated by the Scandinavian Airlines System, that overran the runway at its destination at John F. Kennedy International Airport on February 28, 1984. The flight, using a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, originated at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden, before a stopover at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, Norway. All 177 passengers and crew members on board survived, although 12 were injured. The runway overshoot was due to the crew's failure to monitor their airspeed and overreliance on the aircraft's autothrottle.
Pan Am Flight 799 was an international cargo flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Cam Ranh Airport in South Vietnam that crashed on December 26, 1968, near Anchorage, Alaska. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 707-321C aircraft operated by Pan American World Airways. All three crew members died in the crash.