Past Work

Robert Swaim is an internationally recognized expert in lithium batteries and power systems, both in aviation and motor vehicles. Starting in aviation as a teenager and licensed airplane mechanic, he later worked for aerospace firms around the world as an engineer until becoming an accident investigator at the National Transportation Safety Board from 1988 until retirement almost 32 years later. At retirement Mr. Swaim had achieved the unique position of being the NTSB's National Resource Specialist for Aviation Systems Engineering. He also served as Accredited Representative of the United States for international investigations, Investigator In Charge for domestic investigations, aviation cyber-security expert, and other roles as required.

Mr. Swaim was the initial investigator sent to the first lithium ion battery fire in a Boeing 787 in January 2013 at Boston, Massachusetts which expanded into further investigations in Japan. This led to almost 3 years of working daily with Boeing, Underwriters Laboratories, numerous other countries, agencies, and companies. As one of few forensic engineers with experience at the vehicle level, Mr. Swaim began to assist other Government agencies and became a regular participant and speaker at lithium ion battery conferences while still investigating airplane accidents including the 2019 Boeing 737-MAX investigation in Ethiopia. 

Naturally he became involved with electric vehicle (EV) fire investigations with the NTSB Highway Division which continued until retirement. The result of this multi-year group effort was the major report titled Safety Risks to Emergency Responders from Lithium-Ion Battery Fires in Electric Vehicles. (NTSB/SR-20/01, PB2020-101011) 

Since leaving the NTSB, Mr. Swaim has continued to teach accident investigation classes at the NTSB Academy, started the consulting group HowItBroke.com, and is an ongoing member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE J2990) Hybrid and EV First and Second Responder Task Force. With the rapidly increasing number of EVs around the world, Mr. Swaim developed a hands-on firefighter class which is based in what has and has not worked.  The class is based in ISO-17840, which is the standard recommended by the NTSB to be used for emergency response guides and material. (NTSB Safety Recommendations H-20-30 and H-20-32)

1989, Baltimore MD, Beech 18, in-flight fire

1992, Atlantic Ocean, TWA Lockheed L-1011, in-flight fire

1992, LaGuardia NY, USAir Fokker F28, icing stall on takeoff

1994, Roselawn IN, ATR-72, in-flight icing

1995, Everglades FL, ValuJet DC-9, in-flight fire

1996, Atlantic Ocean, TWA Flight 800, Boeing 747, fuel tank

1998, Halifax NS, SwissAir flight 111, Douglas MD-11, in-flight fire

2001, Washington DC, 9/11 Pentagon, Boeing 757, terrorism

2001, Bangkok, Thailand, Thai Airways Boeing 737, fuel tank explosion

2002, Uberlingen Germany, Tu-154 / Boeing 757, midair collision

2002, Penghu Island, Taiwan, China Airlines Boeing 747, structural failure

2002, Dalian China, Douglas MD-80, in-flight arson

2005, Marathon Greece, Helios Boeing 737, hypoxia

2006, Bangalore India, Transmile 727, fuel tank explosion

2007, Doualla Cameroon, Kenya Airways Boeing 737, pilot error

2007, Lake Michigan WI, Cessna Citation, pilot error

2009, Amsterdam NL, Turkish Airlines 737, pilot error

2010, Aleknagic Alaska, DeHaviland DHC3T, pilot error

2013, Boston MA, Japan Airlines Boeing 787, Li-Ion battery fire 

2014, Ocean near Jamaica, TBM900, system failure and hypoxia

2016, Fort Lauderdale FL, FedEx MD-11 landing, structural failure

2016, Gaithersburg MD, Embraer Phenom 100, pilot error

2016, Dubai, Emirates Boeing 777, pilot error

2017, Lake Forest CA, Tesla Model X

2018, Gulf of Mexico, Cirrus SR22, hypoxia

2018, Mountain View CA, Tesla Model X

2018, Fort Lauderdale FL, Tesla Model S

2018, Guyana, Air Jamaica, Boeing 757

2019, Addis Ababa, Ethiopian, Boeing 737 MAX

2019, Hawaii, Beechcraft KingAir takeoff accident

And many others, especially in avionics and general aviation cases

2021, Oahu, Hawaii, Detailed planning and on-site for ocean recovery of TransAir Boeing 737

31+ years of course development and instructing at NTSB Training Center

University guest lecturer about investigations and engineering forensics

Registered European Commission Joint Research Center (JRC) Technical Expert

Email:  swaim@HowItBroke.com

Tel:      301-359-1399