Christopher A. Hart is an American lawyer, government official, and pilot. He served as the 13th chairman of the

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

. He served as Acting NTSB Chairman beginning April 26, 2014, and in June 2014 was nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

to serve as Chairman of the NTSB. He was confirmed to serve as Chairman on February 5, 2015. Robert Sumwalt succeeded him as chairman in August 2017.

Personal life

Hart's great uncle,

James Banning James Herman Banning (November 5, 1900 – February 5, 1933) was an American aviation pioneer. In 1932, James Banning, accompanied by Thomas C. Allen, became America's first black aviator to fly coast-to-coast. Background Dreaming from boyh ...

, was the first African-American to receive a pilot's license issued by the U.S. government in 1926. Hart is a licensed pilot with commercial, multi-engine, and instrument ratings.

Education

Hart holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

and a J.D. from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

Career

From 1973 until joining the NTSB in 1990, Hart held a series of legal positions, mostly in the private sector. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association. He first served as a member of the NTSB from 1990 to 1993. After leaving the board, he served as deputy administrator of the

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes" rel ...

, before moving to the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

(FAA) in 1995. Immediately before returning to the board in 2009, Hart was deputy director for air traffic safety oversight at the FAA. He had been the FAA assistant administrator for system safety. Hart was sworn in as a member of the National Transportation Safety Board on August 12, 2009, and designated by President Obama for a two-year term as vice chairman of the board on August 18, 2009. In August 2013, President Obama nominated him for a second term as board member and after Senate confirmation of his nomination, the President, in October 2013, designated him for a third term as vice chairman. He has served as acting NTSB chairman since April 26, 2014 and in July 2014 was nominated by the President to serve as chairman of the NTSB. He served as chairman until August 2017, when he was succeeded by Robert Sumwalt. After his tenure at the NTSB Hart continued his work in the safety industry, chairing Washington DC's Metro Safety Commission and serving as a safety consultant for private companies such as

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery ( Uber Eats and Postmates), pack ...

. Hart has been chosen to serve as the chairman of the FAA's Joint Authorities Technical Review (JATR) team looking into the proposed fix for the

Boeing 737 MAX groundings The Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and December 2020longer in many jurisdictionsafter 346 people died in two crashes: Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on ...

References

External links

NTSB - Christopher A. Hart profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Christopher A. Living people Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board Obama administration personnel Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Harvard Law School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Trump administration personnel