Maintenance technicians are even more susceptible to criminalization following aviation accidents because, as Brian Finnegan points out, “the signoff [for a maintenance assignment] lasts forever, so liability follows the mechanic for years afterward.”

What should flight crews headed into foreign countries’ airspace know in order to protect themselves from criminalization in the event of an accident or incident? Business aviation flight crews tend to be more exposed than their airline counterparts because they fly just about everywhere and tend not to have the luxury of large infrastructures like major airlines, pilot unions, the Air Transport Association and International Air Transport Association supporting them.

As an integral part of its business and general aviation division reorganization in 2008, General Electric Aviation added a business jet component to its existing customer operations center at its Cincinnati headquarters.