Years later the helicopter crashed and killed its new owner. Research showed he was the 15th owner of the helicopter and that it was in such poor condition the FAA had grounded it. And still, it was flown anyway. The dead pilot's estate sued Bell Helicopter and a judgment was brought against Bell for sizeable compensation.

This endless exposure for the manufacturers translated into ever-increasing product liability premiums, which were borne by the manufacturers and then passed on to owners of new aircraft. When the general aviation industry hit a slump in the early 1980s, with a reduced number of aircraft being sold, endless product liability insurance coverage had to be supported by between 30 percent and 40 percent of new aircraft cost.

In 1986, as a result of spiraling costs, Cessna Aircraft Company, the No. 1 manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, announced it was discontinuing production of both two- and four-place aircraft for the general public.

Not even Sen. Bob Dole or Sen. Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas was able to break loose the stranglehold that Rodino had on the issues of litigation. Jobs were at stake, but Congressman Rodino was more interested in the consequences of lucrative lawsuits for his lawyer friends than he was the general well-being of the people of Wichita and their faltering economy.

It wasn't until he gave up the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee in 1989 that legislation, which he had blocked for many years, finally provided relief in terms of a sunset clause. Two different bills, one for a 20-year limit and one for 15 years, became a compromise of 18 years, which Finkel suggests somehow lets manufacturers off the hook unfairly.

Finkel would have you believe that the tort lawyers are the "knights in white armor" who force manufacturers to develop needed and mandatory changes for users of aircraft. I don't believe it's productive to have the design of aircraft in the hands of tort lawyers where costly and, in some instances, unnecessary protections are mandated. In the instance he cites - representing a client who crashed in a small helicopter - he goes to great length, possibly referring to his notes offered in his jury summation, to take issue with all of the things that, in his opinion, the manufacturer should have done.

What he fails to do is discuss why the helicopter crashed in the first place. Was it a manufacturer's defect or was it pilot error? Maybe even gross incompetence.

Trevor C. Spencer lives in Cottonwood.