WASHINGTON, D.C. - National Transportation Safety Board Member George Washington Black has resigned his seat on the Board, effective yesterday. Mr. Black has begun his new position on the agency’s staff as Senior Civil Engineer/National Resource Specialist for Highway Investigations.

In his letter of resignation to President Bush, Mr. Black said “it has been an honor to serve my country for nearly seven years at the Safety Board. I am returning to highway safety engineering practice that has been my profession for over 30 years.”

Mr. Black became a Member of the NTSB on February 22, 1996, the first practicing highway engineer to be a Board Member. He was the on-scene Board Member at a number of high-profile transportation accidents during his tenure, including the 1996 engine failure on an MD-88 in Pensacola, Florida; the runway collision between a small plane and a commuter airliner in Illinois later that year; the propane gas explosion in Puerto Rico, also in 1996; the crash of a Korean Airlines 747 in Guam in 1997; and the crash of American Airlines flight 587 in New York City in November 2001.

Before coming to the Board, Mr. Black held highway engineering posts with Gwinnett County, Georgia, for 24 years, retiring as Director of Transportation. He is a 1968 graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree, and is a registered professional engineer. While at Georgia Tech, he worked in one of the original Multi-Disciplinary Traffic Crash Investigation Teams funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. He is an Air Force veteran.

In his new position at the Board, Mr. Black will be reviewing highway design and operational issues associated with NTSB highway accident investigations.