Reuters reported Sunday that Inman received notice Friday that his position had been terminated, while The Associated Press reported that he said the action was effective immediately. “To date, I have not received any reason for this termination,” Inman said.
What Todd Inman’s firing means for the NTSB
As of Monday, the NTSB’s board page still described the agency as a five-member panel but publicly listed only Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy and members Michael E. Graham and Thomas B. Chapman. Inman had become one of the board’s most visible members during major aviation investigations, including the January 2025 collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the November 2025 UPS cargo-plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky.
The White House had not publicly explained the move by Monday, and the agency had not offered a fuller public accounting of why Inman was removed. That leaves the board publicly showing fewer members while it continues to oversee major investigations.
Todd Inman and the board’s recent shake-ups
The contrast with last year is sharp. Inman and Brown were sworn in during April 2024, bringing the NTSB back to a full five-member roster. At the time, the agency said Inman’s term would run through 2027.
That stability did not last. Brown was removed in May 2025, a rare midterm board dismissal, and he later sued over the decision, arguing the removal was illegal and harmful to the agency’s safety mission. Months afterward, Trump nominated John DeLeeuw to Brown’s seat, continuing the turnover before Inman’s removal added another vacancy.
For now, the clearest public measure of the fallout is on the agency’s own website: a board that celebrated a full five-member lineup in April 2024 now publicly shows only three.
