Ms. Leah Yeager, NTSB - Top of Page
Senior Air Safety Investigator, Office of Aviation Safety, Dallas, Texas 

Ms. Yeager has been employed with the NTSB since 1999 and has been the investigator-in-charge of two fatal EMS accident investigations, including a CJ Systems (now Air Methods) BK-117 accident in Cleveland, Ohio, and an Air Evac Lifeteam Bell 206L‑3 accident in Arkansas. Ms. Yeager has also served as the Operations Group Chairman on a Kingair C90A accident that was operated by Southwest MedEvac (now Omniflight), in Ruidoso, New Mexico, and most recently, on the mid-air collision between two Bell 407s operated by Classic Helicopters and Air Methods in Flagstaff, Arizona. In addition to her 9-year tenure with the NTSB, Ms. Yeager came to the agency with 4 years of aviation accident investigation experience as an air safety investigator with Cessna Aircraft Company. She holds a commercial pilot rating for airplane single and multi-engine land, and instrument airplane; as well as a certified flight instructor certificate for airplane single-engine land and instrument airplane.

Ms. Yeager earned a B.S. in Aviation Science from Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and an M.A.S. in Aviation Safety Operations from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida.

John DeLisi, NTSB
Deputy Director, Office of Aviation Safety

Mr. DeLisi has been with the National Transportation Safety Board for 17 years, serving as Deputy Director of the Office of Aviation Safety for the past two years.  He began his career with the Safety Board as an Aircraft Systems Engineer in the Aviation Engineering Division, and was an on-scene investigator for 20 major airline accidents and 6 international investigations.  He authored 16 safety recommendation letters that have led to improvements on air carrier airplanes such as the B737, B747, B757, B767, and A‑320.  Mr. DeLisi became Chief of the Aviation Engineering Division, which is responsible for investigating the airworthiness of aircraft involved in major aviation accidents.  He also served as the Chief of the Major Investigations Division and oversaw over a dozen major airline accident investigations, including the investigation of the Comair Flight 5191 accident in Lexington, Kentucky.  Prior to joining the Safety Board, Mr. DeLisi spent 10 years as a Flight Test Engineer with McDonnell Douglas, where he conducted flight tests on F-15 and  F/A-18 aircraft. 

Mr. DeLisi has presented technical papers at conferences sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Flight Safety Foundation, and the International Aviation Safety Association.  He is a recipient of the Safety Board’s Managing Director’s Award and has twice been nominated for the Safety Board’s Dr. John Lauber Award for technical excellence in accident investigation.   

Mr. DeLisi is a cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, and has done graduate work in Engineering Management at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.  He also holds a private pilot certificate with multi-engine and aerobatic training. 

Dan Bower, Ph.D., NTSB
Chief, Vehicle Performance Division, Office of Research and Engineering

Dr. Bower joined the NTSB in 1995 and specializes in aircraft performance, aircraft icing, aerodynamics, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In addition to serving as Chief of the Vehicle Performance Division, he has served as aircraft performance group chairman on several major icing accident investigations, including the 1997 Comair 3272 EMB-120 accident in Monroe, Michigan; the 2004 Bombardier Challenger accident in Montrose, Colorado; and the 2005 Cessna Citation 560 accident in Pueblo, Colorado. He was also responsible for performance analysis for the ValuJet flight 592 accident and the Alaska Airlines flight 261accident. He also directed CFD analysis for the American Airlines flight 587 accident and flight-testing for the TWA flight 800 investigation. Dr. Bower has provided NTSB support to other agencies, including radar data and ballistic trajectory studies in support of the NASA investigation of the space shuttle Columbia accident, for which he was awarded the NASA Space Flight Awareness Team Award and a Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Group Achievement Award. He also analyzed FDR and radar data in support of the FBI’s investigation of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Dr. Bower received the NTSB’s Dr. John K. Lauber Award in 1998 for aircraft in-flight icing research programs conducted during the Comair 3272 investigation.

Before joining NTSB, Dr. Bower served as a research scientist/engineer at Calspan-University of Buffalo Research Center (1991 to 1995), analyzing hypersonic experimental test data from the Large Energy National Shock Tunnel (LENS) facility. From 1988 to 1993, he was an instructor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he taught engineering classes at the undergraduate and graduate level. From 1986 to 1988, he worked as an aerospace engineer at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, performing ascent and re-entry analysis of National Aerospace Plane (NASP) design concepts.

Dr. Bower received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Captain Todd Gunther, NTSB
Office of Aviation Safety

Captain Gunther has been with the NTSB since 2004. He has been a pilot for over 30 years. He holds an airline transport pilot rating and has served as a pilot-in-command, in Code of Federal Regulations part 91, 135 and 121 operations. He has logged over 14,000 flight hours in experimental, general aviation, and transport category airplanes, and holds three type ratings. He is also a flight and ground instructor with over 3,000 hours of dual given and has extensive experience as an airline captain, and air safety representative.

Mr. Gunther has participated in 100s of NTSB investigations and has written, and presented on aviation safety matters. His safety involvement has resulted in numerous changes to aircraft designs and operations, including changes to the Federal Aviation Regulations and certification.

In addition, prior to joining the NTSB, Mr. Gunther served as the Chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Accident Investigation Board and was with the ALPA air safety structure for 15 years. During that time he also held additional positions within ALPA including, Director of ALPA’s Basic Safety School, Director of ALPA’s Blood Borne Pathogens Program, Instructor at ALPA’s Basic Accident Investigation Course, Instructor at ALPA’s Advanced Accident Investigation Course, Member of the National Enforcement Action Committee, and Chief Accident Investigator for a member airline.

Mr. Tim Burtch, NTSB
Office of Research and Engineering

Mr. Burtch has been with the National Transportation Safety Board since 2005 as a aerospace engineer in the Vehicle Performance department.  He has performed numerous airplane performance analyses in support of accidents including the Continental Airlines Flight 1404 accident in Denver, CO, and the Comair Flight 5191 in Lexington, KY.

He has more than 20 years of flight dynamics and control experience with McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin, and Rockwell Collins and holds a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in AE from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.  Mr. Burtch is an instrument-rated private pilot with additional flight training in upset recovery.

Mr. Jeff Marcus, NTSB
Transportation Safety Specialist, Office of Safety Recommendations and Advocacy 

Mr. Marcus has been with the NTSB’s Office of Safety Recommendations and Advocacy since 1999, where he evaluates responses to aviation safety recommendations and advocates for their implementation. Prior to the NTSB, Mr. Marcus was with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) in Oklahoma City, where he was the Acting Manager of the Aeromedical Research Division, and the Manager of the Protection and Survival Laboratory. Before CAMI, Mr. Marcus worked for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, where he ran the head injury research program, and where he performed research evaluating crash dummy design and interpreting impact signals in terms of injury potential.

He holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University and a B.S.in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland–College Park. Mr. Marcus is the author or co-author of over 30 technical papers on biomechanics, transportation safety, and computer modeling. For over 20 years, Mr. Marcus has also taught computer science part time in the evening programs of several universities and community colleges.

Mr. Don Eick, NTSB
Office of Aviation Safety

Ms. Kristi Dunks, NTSB
Office of Aviation Safety, Seattle, Washington

Ms. Dunks has been employed with the NTSB since 2003 and has acted as the investigator-in-charge (IIC) of numerous aircraft accidents. She has served as the Airworthiness Group Chairman on air tour and airline accidents. Ms. Dunks is rated in airplanes and helicopters and holds an aviation maintenance technician certificate. Prior to coming to the NTSB, she worked in airline operations as well as in flight instruction. 

Ms. Dunks earned a B.S. in Aviation Operations from Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah, and a M.A.S. with specializations in human factors and safety from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She is an active pilot.

Dr. Katherine Wilson, NTSB
Human Performance Investigator, Office of Aviation Safety

Dr. Wilson is a Human Performance Investigator with the Office of Aviation Safety at the National Transportation Safety Board. She has been with the Board for about a 1 year and has been a co-chairman or assisted in 6 incident/accident investigations. Most recently, she is the Operations/Human Performance Group Co-Chairman for the US Airways flight 1549 accident on the Hudson River in New York.

Prior to joining the NTSB, Dr. Wilson worked as a Human Factors Psychologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and as a researcher at the Institute for Simulation & Training conducting research on teams, team training, and simulation-based training. She has 10 years of experience studying crew resource management in commercial and military aviation and healthcare.

Dr. Wilson holds a Ph.D. (2007) in Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology from the University of Central Florida, a M.S. (2002) in Modeling and Simulation the University of Central Florida, and a B. S. (1998) in Aerospace Studies from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Ms. Jennifer Rodi, NTSB
Office of Aviation Safety

Mrs. Rodi has been employed with the Safety Board, as a field investigator, since October 2003, and has been the investigator-in-charge of numerous regional field and limited investigations during this time. She served as the Survival Factors Group Chairman for the Lubbock, Texas, Empire Airlines accident, the Witness Group Chairman for the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Cessna Citation accident, and has participated in other major investigations, public hearings, and Board meetings conducted by the Safety Board.

Prior to her employment with the Safety Board, Mrs. Rodi was employed as a flight instructor in Part 61 and Part 141 flight schools. She currently holds a commercial pilot certificate with single, multiengine, and instrument ratings. In addition she is a certified flight and ground instructor with single, multiengine, and instrument privileges for flight instruction, and advanced and instrument privileges for ground instruction.

Mrs. Rodi earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, as well as a Master’s of Science in Aeronautical Science with specializations in Human Factors and Systems Safety, also from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Mr. Guilhem Nicolas, BEA (Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile)
Accredited Representative

Mr. Nicolas received a Masters degree in Aeronautics from the French National Civil Aviation School (ENAC) in 2000 after an exchange program with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (Florida, US) and a training course at the NTSB regional office in Miami. He joined the BEA Safety Analysis Division in 2000 as a Safety Investigator and the investigations department in 2008. He received a Degree in Human Factors from the University Paris 5 René Descartes in 2003. He has been involved in safety studies and participated in international investigations. These have included: the accident to a Britair CRJ100 (June 2003, Brest, France), an Air France Airbus A340 of (August 2005, Toronto, Canada) and a Yemenia A310 accident in Comoros. He has also been involved in international working groups such as GAIN and JSSI (ODA).