Pilot & Former FAA Executive Named NTSB Chairman

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate has unanimously confirmed Christopher Hart, a pilot and former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) executive, as the 13th chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Confirmation of Hart’s appointment took place on March 12, 2015. Hart has served as acting NTSB chairman since April 2014.

Hart holds a commercial pilot certificate with instrument and multi-engine ratings. He has also served on the NTSB previously from 1990 to 1993 and since 2009. At the as FAA Hart served as deputy director for Air Traffic Safety Oversight and, before that, as FAA assistant administrator for System Safety.

During a recent talk at a meeting of the AeroClub of Washington in Washington, DC, Hart related that a great uncle, James Herman Banning, became the first African-American to receive a government-issued pilot’s license in 1926.

At the same event Hart described how he has already instituted changes at NTSB, including an initiative to expand international safety cooperation during accident investigations involving several countries.

Hart holds a law degree from Harvard University and Master and Bachelor degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association.

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