Longtime Bizav Attorney Gary Garofalo Flies West

Gary Garofalo, an aviation attorney whose more-than-five-decade career helped shape U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) governing business aircraft operations, died on August 22. “Gary was the consummate attorney with an outsized passion for aviation,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “His fingerprints are all over the [FARs] and the legal opinions that guide our industry.”

A longtime NBAA Tax Committee member, Garofalo served as chair for two years and later led the association’s Operational Excellence Strategic Focus Team, coordinating its Tax, Domestic Operations, and International Operators Committees.

He studied aeronautical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, earned a University of Virginia law degree in 1965, and joined the FAA’s legal staff, spending three years on licensing requirements, enforcement cases, airworthiness directives, and FAR interpretation. In 1972, he co-founded the Washington, D.C. firm known today as GGH Air Law, representing business aircraft owners and operators, FBOs, airlines, and more until his 2021 retirement.

Garofalo was also involved in the FAA’s Fractional Ownership Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC), whose recommendations produced Part 91 Subpart K, and served on the steering committee for the Part 125/135 ARC. He chaired the Air and Space Law Section of the Federal Bar Association’s Transportation Committee and was a founding member of the NTSB Bar Association.