If you’ve been following our coverage of the aircraft insurance market you’ll know that it has—as we predicted a year ago—“hardened.” That’s a broker buzzword for high premiums, demands for frequent training and medical certification, longer transition instruction when moving up in aircraft and in some cases, non-renewal of policies even if you haven’t had […]
Well, I figured I would confirm what Aviation Consumer has been telling all of us for a while. I recently renewed the insurance on my Beech V35B. I’m currently 77 years old and about to make 78. A week after I submitted my payment (which doubled from last year), I received a certified letter from […]
We’ve heard our share of horror stories from readers regarding their experiences in the “hard” insurance market that developed in the last two years. We’ve been tracking the market and reported on it in the February and December 2019 issues. It put an end to a “soft” market that had existed for over 30 years. […]
We’re not crazy about the fact that something we predicted in these pages over the last two years has come to pass. The reality—significantly higher insurance rates—is hitting pilots right in the wallet. The new, “hard” insurance market is especially challenging for those owners who bought an older jet for a bargain-basement price and thought […]
Interestingly, the number of U.S.-registered aircraft is increasing, while the number of pilots is decreasing. (Wikipedia says there were 609,306 licensed pilots and GAMA counted 211,000 registered aircraft.) But even allowing for flying clubs, partnerships and the graying and thinning of the pilot population, this still means that there are a lot of pilots who […]
At first glance, flying an airplane built before 1970 isn’t a big deal. The FAA doesn’t get too excited about it in the regs. If the airplane of choice has a tailwheel, FAR Part 61.31(i) requires a tailwheel endorsement from a CFI if you don’t already have one. Otherwise, the regs are silent. There’s no […]
You’ve got the airplane partly configured for landing on a long final and the tower hasn’t yet cleared you to land, but says to continue at best speed. To make the airplane go faster, you retract the landing gear and clean up the flaps. Then you’re instructed to do a present-position 360 because the sequencing just isn’t working out and a Falcon is beating you to the runway. Halfway through your circle, the tower clears you to land, you tuck in on final, put in some flaps and come over the numbers kind of hot. Something definitely isn’t right in last two seconds of the flare because the tires aren’t touching. -But then the propellers do, and so does the belly. At least you’ve stopped at the first taxiway so they can get your broken piece of metal off the runway quickly so the ramp gawkers can see it hanging off the wrecker. A sickening experience, yes, and a bad ending to an otherwise good business trip with the airplane. But isn’t that what insurance is for?
Beginning in 2010, there was a further influx of companies starting their own aviation divisions. These included Travelers, SwissRe, QBE, Hallmark, XL Catlin, Great American and W.R. Berkley. General aviation did not grow much in that time, so by 2016 there were a lot more insurance dollars chasing each airplane and helicopter than there had been 10 years before. The market was awash in what insurers refer to as “capacity.” Capacity is basically the capital required for insurers to set aside as reserves as they take on the risk that comes with new insurance policies. As the new companies entered the market, the legacy companies, including USAIG, Global Aerospace, AIG and Old Republic (Phoenix), were forced into a defensive position in order to maintain their market share against the new invaders, and we were off to the races.
Every few years we take a close look at the U.S. general aviation insurance market. During the research we speak with underwriters and brokers to get a feeling for what changes they see, what problems they are having and what they anticipate coming down the track for those of us who write premium checks. …
Not surprisingly, when youre about to fly an airplane with more than enough torque and P-factor to roll you inverted in a heartbeat, malicious stall behavior and the ability to blow through the 250-KIAS-under-10,000-foot speed limit and laugh, the FAA and insurers are going to have something to say about it.
When we last looked at insurance for older pilots, the insurance market was in the midst of a soft market cycle, or at least we thought it was. Almost four years later, there are even more insurers than there were then. As the GA fleet in the U.S. continues to gradually shrink, there are more insurance dollars chasing fewer airplanes. As a result, rates and underwriting guidelines are even softer now than they were then.
While researching information on aircraft corrosion and corrosion prevention, I ran across my nomination for understatement of the week in an FAA publication. It said, . . . the amount of maintenance required to repair accumulated corrosion damage and bring the aircraft back up to standard will usually be quite high. No kidding. The reality is staggering-some years ago I was shown the bills paid by an owner for corrosion repair. He had bought a Louisiana-based twin without a prebuy examination. Over the next two years he expended more than hed paid for the airplane to repair damage to the structure and skins from corrosion.
