The Thursday article by Charles Finkel, "Frivolous? No, lawsuits make flying safer," is a broad-brush justification for the actions of trial lawyers who specialize in aircraft tort litigation.

Using my 48 years of experience in commercial aviation - airline, corporate and general aviation - I would like to offer my differing opinion.

Lawsuits nearly destroyed the entire general aviation industry, and with it the economic well-being of Wichita, Kan., where manufacturers such as Cessna, Beech and Lear were headquartered. It was the 1994 General Aviation Revitalization Act, which Finkel condemns, that saved the industry.

Up until then, there was no sunset clause on the manufacturers' product liability. Congressman Peter Rodino, D-N.J., was chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee from 1973 to 1989 and made sure that this issue was never presented for a vote before Congress.

This left the manufacturers with unlimited exposure to lawsuits, regardless of how old the aircraft might have been. An equivalent would be if you took a Model-T Ford, produced over 90 years ago, and filed a lawsuit because of a stuck accelerator or the like. Regardless of how many owners it had had and no matter what kind of maintenance condition it was in, the Ford Motor Company could still be held responsible and subject to lawsuit.

In a classic aviation case, Bell Aircraft Company of Texas manufactured a helicopter in 1946. It was only the sixth helicopter the company had ever made having discontinued the manufacturing of fixed-wing aircraft.