NTSB Chair Nominated For Another Term

The Commerce Committee of the U.S. Senate will hold a hearing next Wednesday (April 10) on whether to nominate Jennifer Homendy for a new term as chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). President Joe Biden renominated Homendy for the post last month.

After working as a senior legislative staffer on transportation issues, Homendy has served on the NTSB since 2018 and began her term as chair in August 2021. She recently raised her profile by publicly criticizing Boeing for its lack of cooperation in the investigation into the door-plug separation on an Air Alaska 737 MAX that was less than a year old. After her angry critique, Boeing finally released the names of the 25 workers who were responsible for reinstalling the door plug.

Homendy has also raised public awareness to a string of near-miss episodes related to lapses in air traffic control, including a near-collision between a Southwest 737 and a FedEx cargo plane in Austin, Texas. That incident was one of seven close calls last year that, Homendy commented, "must serve as a wake-up call for every single one of us, before something more catastrophic occurs."