Nancy Kassebaum, Architect of GA Product Liability Reform, Dies

Nancy Landon Kassebaum, the former Republican U.S. senator from Kansas who shepherded through one of the most monumental pieces of legislation for the general aviation industry, died on August 21 in Manhattan, Kansas. She was 94.

Born in Topeka, Kassebaum served in the U.S. Senate from 1978 to 1997, the only woman in the chamber when she was elected. But many in Wichita remember her mostly for her advocacy for the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (GARA), which established an 18-year statute of repose that eliminated the long liability tail of general aviation aircraft. 

Known as the consummate dealmaker who could work across the aisle, she was able to push the measure through the Senate with the agreement of some of the most ardent opponents to product liability reform. Introducing her first general aviation product liability reform bill in 1986, Kassebaum embarked on a campaign that took nearly a decade. She steadfastly pursued it with an understanding of the critical role general aviation played in Kansas. She also understood that light aircraft manufacturing was rapidly vanishing in part due to product liability.

NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen, who served as the legislative director for Kassebaum at the time, had noted the respect she garnered on Capitol Hill even as she navigated controversial issues. “She was tough. She was thoughtful. She was prepared, and people liked her. And she was tenacious. She found a way to be a very independent person on Capitol Hill who didn’t alienate other people,” Bolen had told AIN when recalling her work on GARA. “If you think back when she was elected, she was the only woman in the Senate, and so she was someone that everybody knew, everybody watched.”

Following her passing, Bolen, who considered Kassebaum a friend and mentor, honored her contributions. “Sen. Kassebaum paired her tenaciousness on Capitol Hill…with her firsthand understanding of general aviation’s importance in Kansas and across the U.S.,” he said. “GARA would not have survived were it not for Sen. Kassebaum’s persistence and commitment to working in a bipartisan fashion to accomplish important things…Even those opposed to the measure were willing to hear her out, and in that spirit, they were successful in finding compromise and making real progress. May that continue to be her legacy.”

Her other roles included chair of the Senate subcommittee on African affairs, where she played a part in the imposition of sanctions on South Africa during apartheid, and the subsequent lifting of them. After her time with the Senate, she remained active, serving on the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health to the secretary of Health and Human Services and in 1997 joining former Vice President Walter Mondale in a bipartisan effort to advance campaign finance reform. Kassebaum also co-chaired the Presidential Appointee Initiative Advisory Board that developed reform recommendations and was an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America.