Trump ousts Biden’s Democratic NTSB vice chair amid aviation crisis



President Donald Trump's administration recently removed the Democratic vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

A White House official told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Alvin Brown had been removed from the board.

'We're going to build a brand-new air traffic control system.'

Brown was appointed to the five-person safety panel by former President Joe Biden in December 2024, after the November presidential election and just weeks before Trump's inauguration.

An internet archive shows that Brown was removed from the NTSB's website sometime after May 1. The now-removed webpage stated that Brown had served as a board member since March 2024 and as a senior adviser for the Department of Transportation's Community Infrastructure Opportunities since August 2022. Brown served as the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, from 2011 to 2015.

"Brown began his career as a senior member of the White House leadership team under President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. As Vice President Al Gore's Senior Advisor for Urban Policy, and Vice Chair of the White House Community Empowerment Board, he advised President Clinton and Vice President Gore on a wide range of domestic issues, including community revitalization, job creation, new business development, and affordable housing," the website previously read. "As Executive Director of the White House Community Empowerment Board, Brown led the Administration's $4 billion community empowerment initiatives, including the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community programs."

The NTSB's website now lists only four members: Chairman Jennifer Homendy and members Michael Graham, Thomas Chapman, and J. Todd Inman.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration investigator, told WBAL that he has never seen a president remove a board member. It is typical for members to remain on the board past their five-year term when an administration has not selected a replacement.

"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," Guzzetti 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."

While the White House did not provide a reason for Brown's termination, Trump has previously commented on independent agency's lack of oversight and slow aviation investigations, which may have influenced the recent NTSB shake-up.

In February, Trump signed an executive order to ensure more accountability within federal agencies.

A White House fact sheet detailed the "reining in" of several independent agencies. However, it did not specifically name the NTSB, an independent government agency tasked with investigating transportation accidents.

"So-called independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have exercised enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight," it read.

Following the January aviation disaster at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that resulted in the deaths of 67 people, Trump appeared to slam the federal government for historically slow investigations.

During a press briefing, he stated, "We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we'll probably state those opinions now because, over the years, I've watched as things like this happen and they say, 'Well, we're always investigating.' And then the investigation, three years later, they announce it."

Earlier this week, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy told Fox News that the administration will "radically transform the way air traffic control looks."

"We're going to build a brand-new air traffic control system," he added.

Duffy stated that the Trump administration will unveil the details of its plans on Thursday.

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Senators grill aviation leaders over 15,000 close calls at DC airport before deadly collision



Senators on Thursday grilled several aviation leaders during a hearing concerning the January midair collision between an America Airlines commercial jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that resulted in the deaths of 67 people.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, cited a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board in his opening statements, noting that the agency’s investigation found thousands of close-call incidents near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport over a three-year period.

'Specifically, even since the crash, certain safety measures that could have been simply implemented still have not been.'

“Sixty-seven lives that were lost on January 29 were taken prematurely in an accident that by all indications should have been avoided,” Moran stated.

He called the statistics in the NTSB’s preliminary report “alarming.”

“In a 13-year period, not a single month went by without at least one ‘close call’ between a helicopter and a commercial jet operating at DCA,” Moran continued. “Between October ’21 and December ’24, there were 85 incidents where the lateral separation between a commercial jet and helicopter was less than 1,500 feet and the vertical separation was less than 200 feet.”

The NTSB’s report stated that during the same period, of the 944,179 operations, 15,214 were considered “near midair collision events” between commercial planes and helicopters. The report defined those close calls as instances where two aircraft were “less than 1 [nautical mile],” or roughly 6,000 feet, of lateral separation and “less than 400 ft” of vertical separation.

The NTSB also found that “a helicopter operating over the eastern shoreline of the Potomac River would have about 75 ft of vertical separation from an airplane approaching runway 33, and this distance decreases if the helicopter is operated farther from the shoreline.”

Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, told senators, “There’s virtually no margin of error.”

  

Chris Rocheleau, the Federal Aviation Administration’s acting administrator, was pressed about how the agency failed to address the safety concerns.

“How did we get to this point?” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) asked Rocheleau. “It’s like it’s a series of errors here.”

“What office said this is a safe pathway in agreement when the NTSB is telling us today it never really was safe? It was an intolerable risk,” she stated.

Rocheleau explained that the airspace was redesigned several times in the past.

“When you talk about how did we get there, I think we’re going to learn more of that through the investigation,” he replied.

Rocheleau stated that the FAA’s air traffic system requires “modernization as soon as possible.”

“I can assure to the flying public: to fly is safe. We have the safest, most complex system in the world, and it is safe to fly. I would also say the air traffic system is in dire need of upgrade,” he said.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) questioned Brigadier General Matthew Braman, the U.S. Army aviation director, about a controversial policy that allows flights to operate with the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, a key safety system, turned off.

“I find that shocking and deeply unacceptable. And I want to encourage the Army right now to revisit that policy and to revisit that policy today,” Cruz told Braman. “I can tell you, if the Army chooses not to, I have a high level of confidence that Congress will pass legislation mandating that you revisit the policy.”

Family members of the victims also attended the Senate hearing.

Dailey Crafton, the brother of 40-year-old Casey, a husband and father of three who died in the collision, told the Daily Caller that he was “surprised” by the safety lapses.

“Specifically, even since the crash, certain safety measures that could have been simply implemented still have not been. Accountability is still not being taken by parties who should be held responsible,” he said.

Tracy Brammeier, a partner at Clifford Law Offices, which is representing the families, stated, “The failure to share details about near-midair collisions, or to perform trend analysis on the history of such incidents, or otherwise take action to address the high number of occurrences is completely unacceptable.”

“All entities who failed to take action must be held accountable to the victims’ families and to the flying public,” Brammeier added.

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US airlines issue dire warning ahead of 5G rollout: 'To be blunt, the nation’s commerce will grind to a halt'



As telecommunication giants Verizon and AT&T prepare to roll out their hotly anticipated new 5G service on Wednesday, major U.S. airlines are warning that the launch will result in "catastrophic" disruption for the aviation industry.

What are they saying?

In a letter sent Monday to Biden administration officials, a group of airline CEOs stressed that the forthcoming C-Band 5G deployment would ground "huge swaths" of the U.S. fleet and "could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas."

"Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded," they said in the letter, viewed by NBC News.

The airline executives stated plainly that the rollout could be accompanied by an aviation crisis the likes of which the country has never seen.

"To be blunt, the nation's commerce will grind to a halt," they stated plainly.

The letter was reportedly signed by the CEOs of American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and Jet Blue, as well as by leaders of shipping companies UPS and FedEx.

What else?

Fifth-generation wireless technology, known simply as 5G, is expected to deliver ultra-fast internet speeds, massive capacity, and increased connectivity to users. However, the chief executives argued that, as it stands, 5G signals would interfere with safety equipment that pilots rely on to take off and land in inclement weather.

CNBC noted that the Federal Aviation Administration has indeed warned that potential interference could affect sensitive airplane instruments such as altimeters, which measure the distance from the bottom of an aircraft to the ground during low visibility operations.

As of Sunday, the FAA had only cleared an estimated 45% of the U.S. commercial airplane fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports where the 5G service would be deployed.

"This means that on a day like yesterday, more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers would be subjected to cancellations, diversions, or delays," the CEOs cautioned in the letter, adding, "Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies."

The letter was sent to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Stephen Dickson, and Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Anything else?

As a way to avoid catastrophe, the airline CEOs urged that the rollout be delayed once again to give more time for the aviation industry to make necessary adjustments. Earlier this month, Verizon and AT&T agreed to delay the launch from Jan. 5 until Jan. 19 at Buttigieg's request.

Airline leaders also suggested the service be rolled out "everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles of airport runways at affected airports."

"This will allow 5G to be deployed while avoiding harmful impacts on the aviation industry, traveling public, supply chain, vaccine distribution, our workforce, and broader economy," they said.