Michael Portman works as an accident investigator and recorder specialist at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). He has served in the NTSB’s Vehicle Recorder Lab since 2019. There, he specializes in the recovery, download, and analysis of aviation Flight Data and Cockpit Voice Recorders, and rail Event and Image Recorders.

Michael has worked on over 100 investigations in 39 states and 22 countries on aircraft ranging in size from small homebuilts and hot air balloons to widebody intercontinental airliners. Some highlights of his investigative work include the collision of a PSA Airlines regional jet and a US Army helicopter near Washington DC, the crash of UPS Airlines flight 2976 in Louisville, Kentucky, the ditching of Transair Flight 810 near Honolulu, Hawaii, and the derailment and hazardous material release of a Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine, Ohio. These investigations have led to technical, operational, and regulatory improvements that ensure the traveling public is safer. In 2023, Michael was selected as a Fellow in the Partnership for Public Service’s Excellence in Government program for emerging government leaders.

Before joining the Board, Michael interned at Delta Air Lines in their flight safety division, where he was involved in safety investigations, as well as Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) and Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) data analysis.

Michael obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in aerospace engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, with an undergraduate minor in meteorology. As a part of Georgia Tech’s Cognitive Engineering Center, his graduate research focused on cockpit alerting systems and human autonomy teaming. His master’s thesis, “Context dependent total energy alerting system for the detection of low energy unstabilized approaches,” was advised by Dr. Amy Pritchett.

While at Tech, Michael was involved in leading the Yellow Jacket Flying Club and the Georgia Tech Glee Club, and was also active in AIAA, Sigma Gamma Tau, Georgia Tech Hillel, and Chabad at Georgia Tech.

Michael has been a private pilot since he was 17 and is building an RV-14 plane with his friends in DC. He enjoys singing, cooking, traveling, and learning languages.