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Self-Insuring or Risking Everything?

You couldn't get the gear down but you did we'll on the subsequent, noisy landing. The follow-up would be a routine matter if you're insured. If you are self-insuring, have you set aside the funds to repair or replace the airplane or are you going to end up trying to sell the wreckage to recoup whatever you can from what had been your pride and joy?

We get it. Until two years ago, aviation insurance rates were at historic lows due to overcapacity in the market. A few insurers bailed out because, as we understand, they couldn’t afford to keep losing money. Now supply and demand has swung the pendulum the other way and the price of insurance premiums has shot upward. 

Owner-flown turbines and high-performance piston airplanes have taken the biggest hit—as much as 50 percent rate increases over 18 months. The rate hikes for piston singles haven’t been as dramatic, but insurance price sticker shock has hit all of general aviation. 

Rick Durden

Senior Editor Rick Durden has written for Aviation Consumer since 1994 and specializes in aviation law. Rick is an active CFII and holds an ATP with type ratings in the Douglas DC-3 and Cessna Citation. He is the author of The Thinking Pilot’s Flight Manual or, How to Survive Flying Little Airplanes and Have a Ball Doing It, Vols. 1 & 2.