Judge John G. Koeltl
Ovesen represents the estate of the pilot of a Mitsubishi Mu-2B-35 airplane that crashed in Puerto Rico in 2002 while in a holding pattern. The plane, exported in 1971 pursuant to an airworthiness certificate from Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau, and imported pursuant to a certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), also received an FAA airworthiness certificate in 1972 and was sold to its first buyer later that year. In 1976, the MU-2B-35 aircraft models received a certificate allowing their production in the United States. In August 2009, Mitsubishi sought dismissal of Ovesen’s 2004 lawsuit as barred by the 18-year statute of repose provided by the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (GARA). The court granted dismissal, rejecting Ovesen’s claim that Mitsubishi withheld a 1973 report by the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority allegedly highlighting MU-2B performance problems in holding patterns similar to decedent’s. The report’s disclosure was exempted from the reporting requirements of 14 CFR §21.3(a) by §21.3(d) and need not have been produced to the FAA. Thus, Ovesen could not establish the concealment of “required information” and could not escape GARA’s statue of repose.
