BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Edward Stimpson, a U.S. aviation advocate who pushed to rejuvenate struggling small aircraft manufacturers in the 1990s by limiting lawsuits against them, died early Wednesday in Boise after an extended illness. He was 75.
By 1994, a wave of lawsuits in crashes were being blamed for a downturn at small aircraft manufacturers such as Beech Aircraft and Cessna Aircraft, costing 100,000 jobs over the previous decade.
Stimpson, president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association for 25 years, was a major proponent of legislation signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 to prevent companies from being named as defendants in lawsuits in crashes of small planes 18 years old or older.
Idaho state Rep. Wendy Jaquet and a close Stimpson family friend, says "He was really interested in rejuvenating the spirit of flying."
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