Robert Llewellyn Sumwalt III (born June 30, 1956) is an American academic, aviator, government official and writer.

[6] Sumwalt worked on special assignment to the US Airways Flight Safety Department where he was involved in the development of numerous airline-safety programs.

He was a co-founder of that organization's Critical Incident Response Program, which provides guidance to airline personnel involved in traumatic events such as accidents.

From 1991 to 1999, Sumwalt conducted aviation-safety research as a consultant to NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System, where he studied flight-crew human factors.

In 2003, Sumwalt joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Aviation Safety and Security Program, where he was the primary human-factors instructor.

[1] In addition to his current role with Embry-Riddle, Sumwalt is a safety analyst with CBS News[13] and volunteer board member of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure.