The General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, also known by its initials GARA, is Public Law 103-298, an Act of Congress on Senate Bill S. 1458 (103rd Congress), amending the Federal Aviation Act of 1958.
It was intended to counteract the effects of prolonged product liability on general aviation aircraft manufacturers, by limiting the duration of their liability for the aircraft they produce.
GARA is a statute of repose generally shielding most manufacturers of aircraft (carrying fewer than 20 passengers), and aircraft parts, from liability for most accidents (including injury or fatality accidents) involving their products that are 18 years old or older (at the time of the accident), even if manufacturer negligence was a cause.
While GARA is considered a landmark event in the modern history of America's general aviation industry, debate continues over the effects and ethics of GARA.Clinton, William J., President of the United States, "Statement on Signing the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, August 17, 1994," online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The Presidency Project online archives, Univ. of California at Santa Barbara.Kovarik, Kerry V., "A Good Idea Stretched Too Far: Amending the General Aviation Revitalization Act to Mitigate Unintended Inequities," Seattle University Law Review, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2008), Jan.2008, p.973, Seattle Univ. School of Law, Seattle, WA, USA PDF download.Angelley, William (attorney with aviation accident liability law firm Hightower/Angelley, LLP.), General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, on October 25, 2011"The General Aviation Act: When it Comes to Product Liability, Don't Believe What They Claim," Public Citizen (non-profit public -interest advocacy group) website.Aubert, Garth W. and Michael A. Hession, "Trends and Developments: The General Aviation Revitalization Act," 2004 Law Report, Aircraft Builders Council. (a legalistic dissertation on the evolving use and interpretation of the statute).Truitt, Lawrence J. and Scott E. Tarry, "The rise and fall of general aviation: product liability, market structure, and technological innovation ," in Transportation Journal, June 22, 1995, American Society of Transportation and Logistics, Inc., as reproduced on the website FreePatentsOnline.comRodengen, Jeffrey L., ed. by Elizabeth Fernandez & Alex Lieber, book: The Legend of Cessna (a detailed, documented history of Cessna Aircraft Company, supported by them; most references to this source are coupled with references to more independent sources), Write Stuff Enterprises, 2007, Ft.Lauderdale, Florida. Ch.15-16.Brady, Orla M., Esq. "The General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 - An Update,"* (excerpt), Journal of Air Law and Commerce (71 J. Air L. & Com. 411), Summer, 2006, Southern Methodist University School of Law, Dallas, Texas, as posted on LexisNexis.com; also listed for sale at SMU Law Review Archives ."Testimony of Edward M. Bolen, President, General Aviation Manufacturers Association" before the National Civil Aviation Review Commission (USA), May 28, 1997.General Aviation Manufacturers' Assn. (the industry's primary lobbying organization), General Aviation Revitalization Act as downloaded 2014-02-17, Washington, D.C.
History
General aviation industry decline in the 1980s and 1990s
Manufacturing downturn
General aviation aircraft production in the U.S. -- following its 30-year peak in the late 1970s—dropped sharply over the next few years to a fraction of its original volume 2009 General Aviation Statistical Databook & Industry Outlook, Table 1.7, "U.S.-Manufactured General Aviation Airplanes: Units Shipped, Net Factory Billings and Companies Reporting," General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), Washington, D.C., as posted by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, D.C.—from approximately 18,000 units in 1978,Collins, Richard, "Mayday! The declining pilot," October, 2012, Air Facts Journal, retrieved April 24, 2018 to 4,000 units in 1986, to 928 units in 1994. (In a 1993 speech, Sen. John McCain said "nearly 500 last year ".)
General aviation aircraft manufacturers in the 1980s and 1990s began to terminate or reduce production of their piston-powered propeller aircraft, or struggled with solvency.McCain, John, U.S. Senator (R-Arizona), "General Aviation Revitalization Legislation ", speech before the U.S. Senate, November 9, 1993, Washington, D.C.Kronemer, Alexander and J. Edwin Henneberger "Productivity in aircraft manufacturing," Monthly Labor Review, June, 1993, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Commerce.Kister, Thomas H., "General Aviation Revitalization Act: Its Effect on Manufacturers ," Defense Counsel Journal, January 1998, Vol. 65, No. 1Franson, Dave, "Did Economics And Politics Cut The Heart Out Of Personal Aviation?," Forbes magazine blog, August 29, 2012
At the time, industry analysts estimated that the U.S. decline in general aviation aircraft manufacturing eliminated somewhere between 28,000 and 100,000 jobs—as unit production dropped by 95% between the 1970s peak and the early 1990s—sharply different from other segments of the global aerospace industry, where U.S. market share was still strong.
Product liability costs Those manufacturers reported rapidly rising product liability costs, driving aircraft prices beyond the market, and they said their production cuts were in response to that growing liability.McNatt, Christopher C., Jr. and Steven L. England, "SYMPOSIUM ON THE GENERAL AVIATION REVITALIZATION ACT: The Push for Statutes of Repose in General Aviation," Transportation Law Journal, 23 Transp. L. J. 323, University of Denver, 1995, as posted on LexisNexis.comAOPA Pilot staff, "Cessna Suspends Production of All Piston Models," AOPA Pilot magazine, July 1986, pp.24-25, Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association, Washington, D.C.
Average cost of manufacturer's liability insurance for each airplane manufactured in the U.S. had risen from approximately $50 per plane in 1962 to $100,000 per plane in 1988, according to a report cited by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a 2,000-fold increase in 24 years.
Rising claims against the industry triggered a rapid increase in manufacturers' liability insurance premiums during the 1980s. Industry-wide, in just 7 years, the manufacturers' liability premiums increased nearly nine-fold, from approximately $24 million in 1978 to $210 million in 1985.
Insurance underwriters worldwide began to refuse to sell product liability insurance to U.S. general aviation manufacturers. By 1987, the three largest GA manufacturers claimed their annual costs for product liability ranged from $70,000 to $100,000 per airplane built and shipped that year.
Product liability factors Industry representatives and analysts variously blamed one or more of three general factors for rising product liability costs:
Long-lived products - General aviation aircraft manufacturers chiefly specialized in small and light aircraft which often remained in operation for several decades after their manufacture, much longer than automobiles or even most commercial aviation airliners."Statement of Russell W. Meyer, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Cessna Aircraft Company, before the Subcommittee on Monopolies & Commercial Law, House Judiciary Committee," August 14, 1986, U.S. House of Representatives, as archived at Wichita State University, retrieved March 19, 2026 Higher fatality rate (per passenger, per mile traveled) for general aviation aircraft than most other forms of transportation.Harris, Richard, "Safe Airplane -- NOT! ," from In Flight USA, July 2007, as reproduced on the Aviation Answer-Man website"Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing for General Aviation ," downloaded from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University website, May 27, 2013, which notes: "In 2009, general aviation (GA) was responsible for approximately 95% of civil aviation accidents and 89% of fatalities.""General Aviation Safety" from the 2011 "Wish List", National Transportation Safety Board, 2011, as viewed May 27, 2013 Changes in the legal system including the rise of the rule of strict liability, increasingly applied by courts nationwide during the 1960s and 1970s, so that aircraft product liability lawsuits became a rapidly rising area of specialty for the legal profession in the 1980s, with some attorneys successfully specializing in targeting general aviation aircraft manufacturers and insurers.
Other changes to general aviation economics However, other economics of general aviation had also begun to erode the market for light aircraft, including:Wensveen, J.G., "Air transportation:a management perspective," (Google eBook), Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007 rising insurance rates and restrictions for aircraft manufacturers, owners, operators, and maintenance providers, largely in response to the accident-liability issues; inflation and recession, and rising interest rates in the general economy; termination of the investment tax credit for light aircraft purchases; aircraft market saturation (due partly to accumulated numbers of old, but still flyable, light aircraft built in abundance during the industry's economically favorable "boom" years); kitplane and foreign aircraft competition (and inadequate response by US manufacturers);TOPIC 04 General Aviation Revitalization, in Small Business Innovation Research 1999 Program Solicitation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)Ladomirak, Deborah C., William L. Greene and Diane Manifold, Competitive assessment of the U.S. commuter and business aircraft industries, Report on Investigation No. 332-204, Under Section 332 of the Tariff Act of 1930, USITC Publication 1817, United States International Trade Commission, March 1986, as reproduced by GoogleBooks.com declines in consumer discretionary income; the changing demographics of income and wealth distribution, reducing the number of potential buyers; sharply increased fuel costs; urban sprawl competing with airport space; and regulatory restrictions. The decline in sales reportedly resulted in a decline in the number of aircraft dealers, further exacerbating the decline in sales.
The 1981 labor-relations battle between President Reagan and FAA air traffic controllers, and Reagan's subsequent firing of most U.S. air traffic controllers, resulted in significant reductions of U.S. flight operations—particularly in general aviation, which was subjected to a new system of "flow control" regulating flights from busy airports, undermining the utility of general aviation in the U.S."Chapter 4: Aviation Growth Scenarios," from 'Airport and Air Traffic Control System,' January 1982, Office of Technology Assessment, Washington, D.C., Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 82-600545, NTIS order #PB82-207606; particularly "Strike Impacts", pp.57-58."Safety in the Air," October 19, 1984, CQ Research, Congressional Quarterly, CQ Press, Washington, D.CMark, Robert P., "Control issues: 25 years after the Patco strike," December 18, 2006, Aviation International News at AINonline.com, retrieved April 24, 2018Manning, Jason, "20. The Air Traffic Controllers' Strike," from [The Eighties Club: The Politics and Pop Culture of the 1980s], 2000, retrieved April 24, 2018