Why is subject-matter expertise so important in an aviation neutral?

Aviation is a highly specialized field, layered with technical facts, a distinctive international liability regime, complex insurance structures, and federal regulation, and disputes in it are rarely straightforward. A neutral who genuinely understands aviation — the way claims arise, how the Montreal Convention and related frameworks operate, how aviation insurance is structured, and how airworthiness and product issues are analyzed — can follow the substance of the dispute directly, ask the right questions, and give sophisticated parties a credible, grounded assessment. Parties in aviation matters are typically experienced and well-represented, and they tend to have little patience for a neutral who does not understand the field. Subject-matter expertise builds the credibility that lets a neutral move the parties toward resolution, which is why it is so valued in aviation dispute resolution.  Having some technical experience, in my case, being a private pilot, can also save time and lend credibility to the neutral.