Michael E. Graham
Board Member
Michael Graham took the oath of office as the 45th Member of the National
Transportation Safety Board on January 3, 2020.
Before coming to the NTSB, Member Graham was with Textron Aviation, Inc.
(Cessna/Hawker/Beechcraft) from 1997 to 2019. Since 2012 he served as their
Director of Flight Operations Safety, Security and Standardization and was
responsible for the safe and secure operations of all domestic and international
flights conducted in support of the company. The scope of his responsibility
included managing the flight operation’s Safety Management System and its
certification, administering the Emergency Response Plan, supervising Air Safety
Investigations, and overseeing two company airports and a control tower.
Mr. Graham joined Cessna as a Demonstration Pilot and held positions in Production
Flight Test and Delivery. He was instrumental in the merging of Beechcraft flight
operations with Cessna’s after its acquisition. Member Graham also started the
company’s highly successful Aviation Safety Action Program which became the
model program for Part 91 operators.
Member Graham provided safety leadership to multiple industry and government
advisory committees during his tenure at Textron Aviation. He served as Chairman
of the Air Charter Safety Foundation and Board of Governors, led the Single Pilot
Safety Working Group of the National Business Aviation Association’s Safety
Committee and was a member of the General Aviation Information Analysis Team.
Mr. Graham was presented with Flight Safety Foundation’s 2019 Business Aviation
Meritorious Service Award for his work.
Mr. Graham began his career in the U.S. Navy as a Naval Aviator flying A-7’s and
F/A-18’s and completed two operational deployments including Combat Air Patrol
missions over Iraq and Kuwait in support of Southern Watch. He served as a F/A-18
Flight Instructor, Evaluator and model manager for all Navy and Marine F/A-18’s. He
was handpicked to develop the first ever F/A-18 Aircrew Coordination Training
syllabus and facilitated the training of the first group of instructors. He received a
Navy Achievement Medal for his development of an Occupational Safety and Health
program and twice received the Top Eleven Award for best landing grades aboard
the USS Abraham Lincoln.
From 1995-1997 he worked at Boeing/McDonnell Douglas as a F/A-18 aircrew
instructor. Along with instructing, he developed courseware and served as an
operational analyst and lead integration engineer receiving the Quality Achievement
Award for his work.
Member Graham earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of
New Mexico. He is also a certified Airline Transport Pilot with over 10,000 flight
hours and is type rated in six different Citation models.