Dr. Bower is a Senior Aviation Accident Investigator in the NTSB’s Air Carrier and Space Investigations Division, where he is a Senior Investigator in Charge (IIC) for major air carrier accident investigations and leads teams of specialists in the execution and completion of NTSB accident investigations. He has been employed at the NTSB since 1994, and has been an IIC since 2010. Most recently, he was the IIC for the investigation of the United Airlines Boeing 777 engine fire accident in Denver, the Miami Air International Boeing 737 that went off the end of the runway at Jacksonville Naval Air Station, and has observed numerous commercial space mishap investigations at Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic. Dr. Bower was also the NTSB Office of Aviation Safety’s lead for the Safety Board’s Special Study on inflight turbulence accidents and incidents, and has performed numerous turbulence investigations as an IIC.

Dr. Bower has participated in over 100 major domestic and international aviation accident investigations, and has provided NTSB support to other Federal agencies, including engineering support for the NASA investigation of the space shuttle Columbia accident, and analyzed flight data recorder information and radar data in support of the FBI’s investigation of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Dr. Bower received his Bachelors of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University at Buffalo.