103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1458

AMENDMENT
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

June 26, 1994.

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 1458) entitled ‘‘To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to establish

time limitations on certain civil actions against aircraft manufacturers, and for other purposes’’, do pass with the following

AMENDMENT:

Strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘General Aviation Revi3 talization Act of 1994’’.

4 SEC. 2. TIME LIMITATIONS ON CIVIL ACTIONS AGAINST AIR5 CRAFT MANUFACTURERS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

7 (b), no civil action for damages for death or injury to per8 sons or damage to property arising out of an accident in9 volving a general aviation aircraft may be brought against

10 the manufacturer of the aircraft or the manufacturer of any

11 new component, system, subassembly, or other part of the

12 aircraft, in its capacity as a manufacturer if the accident

13 occurred—

14 (1) after the applicable limitation period begin15 ning on—
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1 (A) the date of delivery of the aircraft to its

2 first purchaser or lessee, if delivered directly

3 from the manufacturer; or

4 (B) the date of first delivery of the aircraft

5 to a person engaged in the business of selling or

6 leasing such aircraft; or

7 (2) with respect to any new component, system,

8 subassembly, or other part which replaced another

9 component, system, subassembly, or other part origi10 nally in, or which was added to, the aircraft, and

11 which is alleged to have caused such death, injury, or

12 damage, after the applicable limitation period begin13 ning on the date of completion of the replacement or

14 addition.

15 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) does not apply—

16 (1) if the claimant pleads with specificity the

17 facts necessary to prove, and proves, that the manu18 facturer with respect to a type certificate or air19 worthiness certificate for, or obligations with respect

20 to continuing airworthiness of, an aircraft or a com21 ponent, system, subassembly, or other part of an air22 craft knowingly misrepresented to the Federal Avia23 tion Administration, or concealed or withheld from

24 the Federal Aviation Administration, required infor25 mation that is material and relevant to the perform-
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1 ance or the maintenance or operation of such aircraft,

2 or the component, system, subassembly, or other part,

3 that is causally related to the harm which the claim4 ant allegedly suffered;

5 (2) if the person for whose injury or death the

6 claim is being made is a passenger for purposes of re7 ceiving treatment for a medical or other emergency;

8 (3) if the person for whose injury or death the

9 claim is being made was not aboard the aircraft at

10 the time of the accident; or

11 (4) to an action brought under a written war12 ranty enforceable under law but for the operation of

13 this Act.

14 (c) GENERAL AVIATION AIRCRAFT DEFINED.—For the

15 purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘general aviation aircraft’’

16 means any aircraft for which a type certificate or an air17 worthiness certificate has been issued by the Administrator

18 of the Federal Aviation Administration, which, at the time

19 such certificate was originally issued, had a maximum seat20 ing capacity of fewer than 20 passengers, and which was

21 not, at the time of the accident, engaged in scheduled pas22 senger-carrying operations as defined under regulations in

23 effect under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C.

24 App. 1301 et seq.) at the time of the accident.
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1 (d) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.—This section su2 persedes any State law to the extent that such law permits

3 a civil action described in subsection (a) to be brought after

4 the applicable limitation period for such civil action estab5 lished by subsection (a).

6 SEC. 3. OTHER DEFINITIONS.

7 For purposes of this Act—

8 (1) the term ‘‘aircraft’’ has the meaning given

9 such term in section 101(5) of the Federal Aviation

10 Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 1301(5));

11 (2) the term ‘‘airworthiness certificate’’ means

12 an airworthiness certificate issued under section

13 603(c) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C.

14 1423(c)) or under any predecessor Federal statute;

15 (3) the term ‘‘limitation period’’ means—

16 (A) 15 years with respect to piston-powered

17 general aviation aircraft and the components,

18 systems, subassemblies, and other parts of such

19 aircraft;

20 (B) 18 years with respect to turboprop-pow21 ered general aviation aircraft and the compo22 nents, systems, subassemblies, and other parts of

23 such aircraft; and

24 (C) 22 years with respect to other general

25 aviation aircraft (including jet-powered general
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1 aviation aircraft) and the components, systems,

2 subassemblies, and other parts of such aircraft;

3 and

4 (4) the term ‘‘type certificate’’ means a type cer5 tificate issued under section 603(a) of the Federal

6 Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 1423(a)) or under

7 any predecessor Federal statute.

8 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF ACT.

9 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in sub10 section (b), this Act shall take effect on the date of the enact11 ment of this Act.

12 (b) APPLICATION OF ACT.—This Act shall not apply

13 with respect to civil actions commenced before the date of

14 the enactment of this Act.

Attest:

Clerk.