Remembering Ed Bolen (1960–2026): NBAA Leader and Champion of General Aviation

Ed Bolen, who led the National Business Aviation Association for more than two decades and spent over 40 years fighting for the people who fly, build and maintain general aviation aircraft, died on the morning of November 11, 2026. He was 66.

His passing came just days after NBAA announced his retirement, and a single day after the state he loved honored him. On November 10, Bolen was inducted into the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame, and his family accepted the honor on his behalf at the Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita. He is survived by his wife, Beth, and their sons, Jack and Robert.

A Kansan Who Learned to Love Flying From His Father

Bolen was born in February 1960 in Salina, Kansas, a state with deep roots in general aviation manufacturing. His father, who served on the board of the Salina Regional Airport, introduced him to flying, and Bolen went on to become a private pilot himself.

He studied economics at the University of Kansas, where he captained the varsity tennis team, then earned a law degree from Tulane and a Master of Laws in taxation from Georgetown. Those who worked with him often noted that he never lost the plainspoken, people-first manner of his Kansas upbringing. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas made the same point in a Senate floor statement honoring him just days before his death.

The Law That Helped Restart an Industry

Bolen’s aviation career began on Capitol Hill. He served as majority general counsel to what is now the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and as legislative director for Sen. Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas.

In that role, he was central to passing the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994. By the early 1990s, product liability costs had driven U.S. production of small airplanes to a fraction of its former level, and some manufacturers had stopped building piston aircraft altogether. GARA set an 18-year limit on most product liability claims against older general aviation aircraft. Manufacturers resumed production, and the law is still widely credited with saving thousands of jobs. Bolen often called it one of the defining moments of his career, and generations of student pilots have trained in airplanes that might never have been built without it.

Leading GAMA, Then NBAA

Bolen joined the General Aviation Manufacturers Association in 1995 and became its president and CEO in November 1996. During those years, President Clinton nominated him to the FAA’s Management Advisory Council, which he chaired from 2000 to 2004. President George W. Bush appointed him in 2001 to the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. He also chaired RTCA, the body that develops many of aviation’s technical standards.

In 2004, he became president and CEO of NBAA. Over the next two decades, he became one of the most recognizable and respected voices in aviation policy, known for working across party lines and for building coalitions rather than picking fights.

A Steady Voice in Washington

Under Bolen’s leadership, NBAA, often working side by side with AOPA, EAA, GAMA and other groups, repeatedly beat back proposals for air traffic control user fees and ATC privatization that would have fallen hard on general aviation. He pressed for airport and airspace access, safety, workforce development and ATC modernization, and he was a key voice in the coalition behind the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024.

When the pandemic grounded much of the industry in 2020, Bolen helped make sure business aviation was included in the CARES Act relief, which helped preserve jobs and supported the industry’s recovery. He also helped bring together about a dozen aviation associations to form Climbing Fast, a joint advocacy effort for the industry. He worked to strengthen ties with business aviation communities in Europe, Asia and beyond, and he built NBAA’s annual convention, NBAA-BACE, into one of the industry’s signature gatherings.

Honors Along the Way

In 2021, the San Diego Air & Space Museum named Bolen a Living Legend in its International Air & Space Hall of Fame. He received the Alpha Eta Rho Award, the aviation fraternity’s highest honor, for his commitment to the industry’s future leaders. Earlier in 2026, he received the Clay Lacy Friendship Medal from Flights to Freedom. His final honor, the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame, came home to Kansas the day before he died.

His Final Months

In September 2026, Bolen stepped away from day-to-day duties to focus on cancer treatment, and NBAA named Dan Hubbard interim chief operating officer. When the industry gathered for NBAA-BACE in October without him, attendees wore sunflower pins, the symbol of his home state, as a quiet show of support.

On November 6, NBAA announced that he would retire. Even then, his message was about the people he served. He called leading the association “the privilege of a lifetime,” according to Professional Pilot, and said he had never been more confident in NBAA’s future.

Remembered by Colleagues and Friends

Tributes poured in from across aviation and Capitol Hill, and many of them spoke less about policy than about the man.

Dan Hubbard, NBAA’s acting CEO, called Bolen “a friend and a mentor to many of us,” according to AIN. He also said Bolen accomplished so much “with grace and humility,” as AvBrief reported.

“General aviation has had no better friend than Ed Bolen,” said Katie Pribyl, acting co-president of AOPA. EAA CEO Jack Pelton described Bolen’s influence as “immeasurable in many ways,” according to Skies Magazine, and called him both an esteemed colleague and a friend.

On Capitol Hill, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves said Bolen had long been “a champion of America’s aviation system,” as quoted by Private Jet Card Comparisons. NBAA board chair John Witzig said business aviation is a stronger, safer and more dynamic industry because of Bolen’s commitment, and leaders at GAMA and NATA remembered his rare gift for bringing people together.

A Lasting Legacy

Every pilot who rents a newer trainer, flies into a community airport that stayed open, or files a flight plan without paying a per-flight fee benefits, in some measure, from battles Ed Bolen helped win. He did it for more than 40 years with patience, good humor and a belief that aviation was stronger when its many voices worked together.

Dan Hubbard continues to lead NBAA as acting CEO, and a board committee chaired by vice chair Matt Byrd is searching for a permanent successor. NBAA hadn’t announced memorial service details at the time of writing.

Our thoughts are with Beth, Jack, Robert and the entire Bolen family, and with his colleagues at NBAA and across the aviation community. Blue skies, Ed.

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