J. Todd Inman hadn’t been a National Transportation Safety Board member a year when a commercial airplane and a military helicopter collided in late January over Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport.
But Inman, a former Owensboro insurance agent, was one of the NTSB members who responded to start investigating the midair collision that took the lives of 67 people.
On Thursday, Inman spoke publicly for the first time about the crash as the guest speaker for the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Rooster Booster breakfast.
Before going into detail about the role he took in aftermath of the crash, Inman spent time talking about how serious transportation safety is taken when it comes to protecting the public.
“…Transportation safety doesn’t sound flashy but it’s one of the most important things we invest in,” Inman said. “Every time you or your family drives a car, step on a plane, boards a train, you’re putting your trust, your life in the fact we did our job — that we designed the system that’s safe for you.”
Inman, who is originally from Calvert City, operated a State Farm insurance office in Owensboro from 2000-2017.
In 2017, Inman left Owensboro to become a director at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Inman also served as the DOT’s director of operations and as a deputy chief of staff before becoming DOT chief of staff in 2019.
Inman described his brief time with the NTSB as having “humbling moments” as he has investigated multiple fatal crash sites over the course of the past year.
“…It’s very tragic when you have to look at this as the final resting spot for people,” said Inman, as photos of various crash sites were displayed. “But you want to try to figure out how do you stop that from happening again. I’ve looked out over accident sites and locations and thought how do we fix this. We don’t do it for politics; we don’t do it for headlines; we do it for prevention, for saving lives.”
The NTSB has five members who are nominated by the U.S. president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. And when crashes occur that require federal investigations, members are asked to “launch” to the site.
For Inman, it was on Jan. 29 at 8:48 p.m. when he received what he described as “the most impactful call of my life.”
A video of the radar showing the American Airlines flight and the Blackhawk helicopter heading toward each other was then played to the Rooster Booster crowd, along with other footage that captured the explosion after the midair collision and the wreckage falling into the Potomac River.
Inman, who lives in Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac, said it hadn’t been since September 2024 that NTSB members received a call about coming to investigate a crash.
But on that January night, Inman said “that call did literally happen outside my door.”
Inman, who decided to “take the call” and launch, told the audience that the D.C. crash along with others he’d investigated had affected him and that he has received counseling “for self-help.”
“That night in D.C. … I saw things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” he said. “I’ve been told they’ll be with me for the rest of my life.”
The crash then became not only a national story but also global one.
Inman became the NTSB’s spokesman, placing him in a position he had never been in before.
After the speech, Inman discussed with the Messenger-Inquirer how he dealt with being that spokesperson.
“No one can be prepared for that; we do trainings and mock interviews and briefings,” he said. “Board members don’t launch unless they launch with another one. So you have an idea but this scale was so much larger.”
And because there have been multiple plane and helicopter crashes since the D.C. one, air safety has been in the spotlight.
Inman, however, maintained that “aviation is the safest it’s ever been.”
“…What has happened is that a number of high-profile events have increased everyone’s interest, attraction and news media attention to it.”
By Don Wilkins Messenger Inquirer
