Robert Sumwalt, 14th chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Robert Sumwalt, who stepped in as the 14th chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Aug. 10, 2017, and served as a Board member since August 2006, is stepping down at the end of June, the agency confirmed. Sumwalt was most recently reappointed to the position of chairman in August 2019 and his term on the Board was set to expire at the end of this year. One of the NTSB’s longest-serving members who was appointed and reappointed by both Democrat and Republican administrations, Sumwalt brought with him a deep background and knowledge of commercial and business aviation to the position. He spent 32 years as a pilot, including for Piedmont Airlines and US Airways, and also managed a corporate aviation department of a Fortune 500 energy company. He has amassed more than 14,000 flight hours and, while at US Airways, served on its Flight Operational Quality Assurance monitoring team.