If your retirement ride will be a single-engine turboprop like the Meridian, your insurer may insist on a co-pilot.

by Jon Doolittle

There’s no point in sugar coating it. If you’re an older pilot, don’t be surprised if your insurance premiums double this year. Or worse. “The older guys are really taking a shellacking,” one insurance broker dolefully informed us. It’s not a pretty picture.

But is the sky falling? As what’s left of our black or brown hair turns silver, will coverage be impossible to find? Not quite, but there’s no doubt the insurance market for older pilots is more difficult than when we last examined this topic three years ago. …