The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will soon hand down a major decision that may extinguish the right of aviation disaster victims to recover from manufacturers that produce and sell dangerous airplanes, helicopters, or aircraft components. In Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp.,1 the court will decide whether the Federal Aviation Administration’s mere certification of aircraft or aircraft components provides immunity to aviation manufacturers against most products liability claims.
While the FAA certifies all aircraft, the agency has limited resources and is not responsible for design; its review is not comprehensive and, indeed, much of the certification is performed by the manufacturer itself. FAA certification does not mean that the airplane is safe or that it necessarily meets the federal minimum standards. At best, certification is a spot check based on information provided by the manufacturer to the FAA as of a given date.2 There is a long history of accidents caused by design or manufacturing defects in certified aircraft, and the FAA frequently issues airworthiness directives to mandate changes after learning about defects not discovered during the certification process.
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