S. 1458

One Hundred Third Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the twenty-fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four

An Act

To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to establish time limitations on certain

civil actions against aircraft manufacturers, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘General Aviation Revitalization

Act of 1994’’.

SEC. 2. TIME LIMITATIONS ON CIVIL ACTIONS AGAINST AIRCRAFT

MANUFACTURERS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection (b), no civil

action for damages for death or injury to persons or damage to

property arising out of an accident involving a general aviation

aircraft may be brought against the manufacturer of the aircraft

or the manufacturer of any new component, system, subassembly,

or other part of the aircraft, in its capacity as a manufacturer

if the accident occurred—

(1) after the applicable limitation period beginning on— (A) the date of delivery of the aircraft to its first

purchaser or lessee, if delivered directly from the manufacturer; or

(B) the date of first delivery of the aircraft to a person

engaged in the business of selling or leasing such aircraft;

or

(2) with respect to any new component, system, subassembly, or other part which replaced another component, system,

subassembly, or other part originally in, or which was added

to, the aircraft, and which is alleged to have caused such

death, injury, or damage, after the applicable limitation period

beginning on the date of completion of the replacement or

addition.

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

(1) if the claimant pleads with specificity the facts necessary to prove, and proves, that the manufacturer with respect

to a type certificate or airworthiness certificate for, or obligations with respect to continuing airworthiness of, an aircraft

or a component, system, subassembly, or other part of an aircraft knowingly misrepresented to the Federal Aviation Admin-
S. 1458—2

istration, or concealed or withheld from the Federal Aviation

Administration, required information that is material and relevant to the performance or the maintenance or operation

of such aircraft, or the component, system, subassembly, or

other part, that is causally related to the harm which the

claimant allegedly suffered;

(2) if the person for whose injury or death the claim is

being made is a passenger for purposes of receiving treatment

for a medical or other emergency;

(3) if the person for whose injury or death the claim is

being made was not aboard the aircraft at the time of the

accident; or

(4) to an action brought under a written warranty enforceable under law but for the operation of this Act.

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

of this Act, the term ‘‘general aviation aircraft’’ means any aircraft

for which a type certificate or an airworthiness certificate has

been issued by the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, which, at the time such certificate was originally issued,

had a maximum seating capacity of fewer than 20 passengers,

and which was not, at the time of the accident, engaged in scheduled

passenger-carrying operations as defined under regulations in effect

under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. App. 1301 et

seq.) at the time of the accident.

(d) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.—This section supersedes

any State law to the extent that such law permits a civil action

described in subsection (a) to be brought after the applicable limitation period for such civil action established by subsection (a).

SEC. 3. OTHER DEFINITIONS.

For purposes of this Act—

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

in section 101(5) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C.

1301(5));

(2) the term ‘‘airworthiness certificate’’ means an airworthiness certificate issued under section 603(c) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 1423(c)) or under any predecessor

Federal statute;

(3) the term ‘‘limitation period’’ means 18 years with respect

to general aviation aircraft and the components, systems, subassemblies, and other parts of such aircraft; and

(4) the term ‘‘type certificate’’ means a type certificate

issued under section 603(a) of the Federal Aviation Act of

1958 (49 U.S.C. 1423(a)) or under any predecessor Federal

statute.
S. 1458—3

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF ACT.

(a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in subsection (b),

this Act shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this

Act.

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

to civil actions commenced before the date of the enactment of

this Act.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.