Liability has been the ultimate driving force behind all the cost increases in aviation. When someone crashes XXX plane, equipped with AAA radio and BBB auto-pilot, in Day-VFR conditions, guess who gets named in the lawsuit regardless. Regulation and certification costs the industry just as much. 50 years ago, it took engineers, and a build team less than a year to make a B-52 come to light. Now it takes 2-3 years before a project is even built, then it has to go through a ridiculous test cycle to become certified, costing the manufacturer $100+ million just to get that far, before they even turn out a product for revenue. So then it takes how many units to be sold, and years before you can recoupe the loss and turn it into a profit???

I'm not saying we shouldn't have regulations and testing phases on airframes, but for crying out loud, the liability factor is killing us all. Know any good pilots that couldn't get a job because they didn't meet the insurance requirement? Ok, off the soap-box.