Todd M. Insler

Todd M. Insler (born October 26, 1968) is a United Airlines pilot who was chairman of the United Master Executive Council (UAL MEC) and sat on the Board of Directors at United Airlines, holding both positions from March 2016 through February 2022.
Union leadership
Advocacy
As an advocate for labor in the United States, Insler has been an outspoken proponent of protecting pilot jobs in United States. In the spring of 2017, Captain Insler wrote a letter to United States President Donald Trump condemning the now-defunct Norwegian Air International (NAI), claiming that allowing NAI to continue "will destroy our US airline industry and all the jobs associated with it."
Airline pilot qualifications
Captain Insler pointed to statistics that show no fatalities on U.S. passenger airlines after the Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 required first officers on commercial airplanes to have a minimum of 1,500 hours of flight experience (reducible to 750 with military training). Noted Insler: "The current first officer qualification rules have clearly provided an increase in airline safety and must not be reduced."
In the wake of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, Captain Insler broke ranks with other pilot and safety leaders in minimizing the seriousness of the Boeing 737 MAX MCAS issue. The Seattle Times quoted him as saying, “The story here is not why we didn't know about , it's why the pilots didn't fly the plane” and compared pilots not being informed about MCAS to watching television: “I don’t need to know how it works.”
In the aftermath of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, initial reports indicated that the first officer had 200 hours of flying experience. In an interview with Forbes, Captain Insler commented "If that is true, I am outraged about it. We all should be.”
Hurricane Maria
In the week following Hurricane Maria in October 2017, Captain Insler and fellow union leader Sara Nelson led a relief effort to provide supplies and workers to the stricken island of Puerto Rico. Working closely with United CEO Oscar Munoz, Insler and Nelson convinced the United executive to sponsor a Boeing 777 to carry over 300 laborers and supplies with short notice to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. Commented Insler, "...fill those seats with food if you have to. I know for a fact a first class seat can hold at least a few 2-liters of Dr. Pepper and a couple giant bags of Tostitos."
EWR Local Council 5 No Confidence in Insler
On August 17, 2022 Insler's own local ALPA's UAL EWR Council 5 voted overwhelmingly to approve a resolution of 'No Confidence' in Todd Insler due in large part to frustration with what is seen as a substandard tentative agreement for a new pilot contract in the wake of his six years in office.

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