The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the statute of repose created under the General Aviation Revitalization Act (“GARA”) provides an aircraft’s individual component parts’ manufacturers the same protections as the aircraft manufacturer itself, even where the part in question is used and becomes incorporated on a later delivered aircraft that is not entitled to protection. 

In a decision likely to impact foreign nationals as well as airlines, airports, and related insurers, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a lower court ruling which held that a Malaysian citizen studying in the U.S. has legal standing to sue in U.S. courts to challenge the mistaken presence of her name on the No-Fly List. 

The ash cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano that shut down much of Europe’s air space in April 2010 has been held to be an example of “extraordinary circumstances” under Art 5(3) of EC Regulation 261/2004 (the Regulation), exempting airlines from paying compensation for the cancellation of flights. 

EAPD’s Mark Meyer and Brian Green are attending the Aviation Insurance Association’s Annual Conference in Vancouver, Canada.  The conference is well-attended and informative.  There were several interesting CIE sessions on Sunday, including a discussion of the criminalization of aviation accidents.  Our speaker explained that the trend is that in Europe and Latin America, investigations into accidents also often included criminal investigations, and sometimes indictments, of the pilots, flight controllers and others who were claimed to be involved in the accident.