White House removes NTSB vice chair

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Monday removed the vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, the latest in a series of dismissals by President Donald Trump from independent U.S. government agencies.

Alvin Brown, a Democrat who was the first-ever African American elected mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, was designated as vice chair in December by then President Joe Biden after he joined the five-member board in March 2024.

A White House official confirmed the departure. Brown did not immediately return an email to his personal account seeking comment.

The NTSB investigates all civil aviation accidents. The board investigates significant accidents in other modes of transportation – highway, marine, pipeline​​ and railroad – and determines the probable cause of accidents and makes safety recommendations.

Since January, Trump has fired two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commision and members of the National Labor Relations Board, Merit Systems Protection Board and Federal Election Commission among others.

The departure comes amid heightened concern about aviation safety following the Jan. 29 mid-air collision of a U.S. Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that killed 67. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday will outline a plan to seek billions of dollars from Congress to overhaul U.S. air traffic control and staffing.

Other incidents have raised alarm including a string of equipment and staffing issues at Newark airport that have disrupted hundreds of flights over the last week and prompted United Airlines to cancel 10% of its daily flights from the New Jersey airport.

On April 28, controllers handling Newark traffic lost radio contact with airplanes for 30 seconds, Duffy said Monday.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)