President Bush designated him as Vice Chairman of the Board for a two-year term, ending August 2008. His term of office as a Board Member will run until December 31, 2011. Prior to coming to the Board, Member Sumwalt was Manager of Aviation for the SCANA Corporation, a Fortune 500 energy-based company. Member Sumwalt was a pilot for 32 years, including 24 years as an airline pilot with Piedmont Airlines and then US Airways. He logged over 14,000 flight hours and earned type ratings in five aircraft before retiring from the airline in 2005. He has extensive experience as an airline captain, airline check airman, instructor pilot and air safety representative. Member Sumwalt worked on special assignment to the US Airways Flight Safety Department from 1997 to 2004, where he was involved in the development of numerous airline safety programs, and he served on the US Airways Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) Monitoring Team. Member Sumwalt served as a member of the Air Line Pilots Association's (ALPA) Accident Investigation Board, and he chaired ALPA's Human Factors and Training Group. He was a co-founder of that organization's Critical Incident Response Program, which provides guidance to airline personnel involved in traumatic events such as accidents. From 1991 to 1999, Member Sumwalt conducted aviation safety research as a consultant to NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System, studying various issues including flight crew performance, improving flight crew monitoring skills, and air carrier de-icing and anti-icing problems. Member Sumwalt co-authored a book on aircraft accidents and has written extensively on aviation safety matters, having published over 85 articles and papers in aviation trade publications. He has broad experience in writing aircraft operations manuals and airline and corporate aviation policy and procedure guidelines. Before joining the Board, he was a regular contributor to Professional Pilot magazine. In 2003, Member Sumwalt joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Aviation Safety and Security Program, where he was the primary human factors instructor. In recognition of his contributions to the aviation industry, Member Sumwalt received the Flight Safety Foundation's Laura Taber Barbour Award in 2003 and ALPA's Air Safety Award in 2005. He is a 2009 inductee into the South Carolina Aviation Hall of Fame. Member Sumwalt is a graduate of the University of South Carolina.
