Aviation Insurance – More Than Sky- High For The Fly Boys
Aviation insurance is more than sky-high for the fly boys and girls. It is one of the most expensive types of insurance available. So what exactly do you need to insure your aircraft?
The most important thing to cover with aviation insurance is liability, which covers bodily injury and property damage incurred by others, such as passengers or pedestrians on the ground. This includes both damages suffered by the owner (for example, if your personal plane crashes) and damages suffered by those who are injured or their loved ones.
Liability also covers your business's financial situation. If you're in the airline or aircraft manufacturing business, for example, aviation insurance protects you against losses to the company resulting from accidents, security breaches, or workplace accidents.
The second type of insurance important is that of cargo insurance. This covers the value of perishable products and commodities carried on board an aircraft during a trip. It usually includes special coverage for dangers such as fire and water damage.
Cargo insurance is important because it protects the value of what you carry and prevents a loss due to theft or damage along the way. You should also be sure to look into passenger baggage insurance, which covers damage to your passengers' belongings while riding on your plane.
Finally, you should look into pilot liability coverage. This is an additional rider that usually covers legal expenses, judgments, and settlements if the pilot or owner of a plane is held criminally liable for the activities of others on board their aircraft.
To be clear, no one can have complete aviation insurance. There are just too many things out there that can go wrong in the air and on the ground for complete protection from accidents and criminal behavior. However, you can have enough insurance to cover your butt—and the butts of those around you—for relatively low costs.
Can it be that expensive? I'm not talking about sky-high insurance prices. This stuff can be reasonably low, usually under $1 million a year or so a few hundred bucks a month. But that's with comprehensive and all the wacky things you've never heard of before. And now you have them too, so be prepared to spend some money on insurance.
Some people don't understand aviation insurance at all. There are just too many types and requirements for them to grasp the concept before they cover their assets.
Don't be like that. Read about insurance requirements, understand what you're getting into, and pick your coverage accordingly. Take advantage of all the options, research your insurance company's solvency carefully, and make sure you have a good policy before you fly out of the ground or into the air.
If you hear anyone else complaining about their high aviation insurance costs, tell them how lucky they are to have coverage at all. There are plenty of pilots out there who have crashed or otherwise lost everything due to not having insurance or not picking the right type of plan.
Aviation insurance may be sky-high, but that's a small price to pay for a safe flight. After all, no one wants to feel the burn of a fiery plane crash on take-off or hit the ground with empty pockets after landing.
If you're smart enough to keep your eyes open and watch out for yourself, you'll have an easy time avoiding aviation insurance problems. And if you do run into trouble, just remember: it's better to be insured and broke—or even dead—than uninsured and broke.
So stay safe out there, folks! _________________________________________________________________________________
Advertisements (function(){var c=function(){var a=document.getElementById("crt-11959074");window.Criteo?(a.parentNode.style.setProperty("display","inline-block","important"),a=a.parentNode):a=document.getElementById("crt-11959074"),a.style.setProperty("display","block","important"),a.style.setProperty("visbility","hidden","important")};if(!window.Criteo)c()});} if (window.jQuery) { jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery("#crt-11959074").masonry({itemSelector: ".ft-post-11959074"}); }); } else {criteo()}
Title: What To Do If Your Airplane Crashes – Talk About A Nightmare Scenario
Date: October 31, 2013
Blogger: Tom Demerly Senior Aviation Writer http://flightblogger.com/aviation-news/what-to-do-if-your-airplane-crashes/ [ARTICLE START] Something is very wrong with your flight. The plane is rumbling and shaking violently up here. The noises are increasing in intensity, changing in tone and rhythm as you hurtle violently through the air at 200+ miles an hour a thousand feet above the ground. The lights, power and the avionics are out on the airplane. The controls are unresponsive. The shrieking and groaning is getting louder, reaching a deafening crescendo as the plane shakes itself apart. You know from the sounds that it's a microburst, a violent downdraft that has wind speeds estimated in some cases to be higher than 200 miles per hour. You try to stay calm, but the plane is in a death spiral. The plane suddenly becomes very dark – an oxygen tank has exploded. Your crew mates are yelling, screaming and babbling…and then the plane starts to break apart as it plummets earthward. Air travel can be unnerving at any time, but today's average jetliners with their technology and automated systems seem almost like flying telephones rather than the dangerous machines they actually are. There is a reason why aviation insurance can cost a fortune and a reason why pilots require special training to fly these powerful aircraft even though most of them spend much of their time doing nothing more spectacular than driving down the highway or flying in formation with other aircraft. There is also a reason why the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and their ratings system require special training, lessons and regulations to fly these powerful machines. Even military pilots have been known to take their lives in their hands flying these machines as they attempt to save people on the ground. Modern technology like GPS and automatic systems like auto pilot do not protect pilots from tragedy if they are not properly trained, follow the proper procedure and understand its limitations.
Conclusion: You can have insurance, but you can't prevent accidents
Aviation insurance is a funny thing. You either get it or you don't, and it's hard to get unless you're rich or know somebody who knows somebody. Having aviation insurance doesn't mean that airplanes won't crash. Far from it. I've seen hundreds of crashes and been in one myself (I'm alive today because of a fireman named Mike) and I'm smart enough to know I'll see more in the future.