Is aircraft insurance really necessary if you own a private aircraft?

Question

Tell me if I'm not making sense, but if you own a car, you need insurance. You have car insurance in case you get into an accident. When you get into an aircraft accident, the damage is either minor where you could afford it, or you are most likely dead and insurance wouldn't matter to you. Am I crazy or does that make any sense?

Why spend the money?

I wouldn't buy one without purchasing insurance just on principle, but this was just a thought that came to mind and I wanted some input.

How are people issued a pilot license if they are susceptible to forgetting the landing gear? This question will go to voters, but as I said, it was just a thought...

Answer 1

lots of great answers.I have seen so many people forget there landing gear down and lost both prop/engine and belly....funny but happens all the time.thank god for insurance they all say.

Answer 2

Unless you have financed a loan on the aircraft where the bank will require at least hull insurance you are not required by law to have any. These days many airports require you to have a stated amount of insurance if you base your aircraft with them to cover liability in the event that your aircraft say catches fire in a community hangar or some other such catastrophic event. Many aircraft that are based on some remote strip somewhere have no insurance.

If insurance were to be made mandatory it would give the insurance company’s a licenses to steal..as it is now they are somewhat competitive. I've seen people that buy their aircraft outright and because of their experience and the type of aircraft the purchased could not obtain affordable insurance, so they flew for years without it! I doubt they ever bothered to tell any of their passengers that there was no insurance.

Large Fly-Ins like Oshkosh or Sun-N-Fun I think have some sort of rider attached to the event fee to cover some of these idiots that fly in there and tie down with screw in tie downs and get blown over in storms or taxi into another aircraft possibly worse.

Canada requires insurance to fly in their country.

I love the LLC thing...I wish I could do that with my automobile! Buy some hot toy with limited experience crash it destroying others property and possibly killing someone and then walk away saying It's not me it's my LLC. Great country we live in!

Answer 3

I had a friend once who absolutely refused to buy life insurance, because you have to be dead to collect on it.
You must consider the other people involved, not just your self. There is no such thing as minor aircraft damage except in the eye of the FAA. For example damaging a prop, or landing gear up is minor damage. They apparently haven't had to buy a prop, or re-skin the belly of a plane.
If you have a lot of assetts and no insurance, then when all is over you or your heirs will have less than nothing.

Answer 4

Well the insurance may matter to your family members .. or to those on the ground affected by the accident.. say the plane hits a house or a building ...
its also possible that ur hangar breaks down in case of an earthquake or a storm destroying ur plane ..
what if u are on the runway and another bigger plane just takes off ur wing in an accident ..
guess u shud go in for insurance afterall .. and i guess its illegal to fly a plane without insurance.. at least thats how its in most part of the world.. not sure abt ur place though unless u mention it ...

Answer 5

If you are single, no heirs, then insurance to protect you is moot (assuming you are dead).

If you live, then you have to bear the consequences - and it does not matter if you the airplane is in an LLC - you as the pilot are going to get sued - because they will find some way in which you contributed to the accident. You'd have to place all your other personal assets into a trust.

If you have family - then the insurance is mostly to protect them - you'd be remiss - no ?

I tried to save by not having ground insurance - in motion only. So the airplane got mashed in a hurricane - and I'm out $300K. I'm not rich - that was a PAINFUL lesson.

It's a racket. 30 years of insurance premiums - not a single $ benefit to me.

Answer 6

To answers your question regarding insurance... In both the public and private systems there are common factors which affect insurance rates: Make, model, and year of vehicle- the more expensive your vehicle the higher the insurance. Some specialty vehicles like classic cars will have higher insurance rates. Use of the vehicle- driving your car to work and how far you drive to work affects your rate. Region- cities with more accidents, theft, and vandalism have higher insurance rates. Living in the suburbs, outside of city limits, helps decrease rates. Driving Record- You receive discounts on your insurance for having a good driving record. Claims History- making claims raises your insurance. Age, Gender, and Marital status can also affect your rate with certain companies. So, keep the above things in mind. If you live in any of the cities listed below, you will want to use them to your advantage. The national average for auto insurance is $900 per year.

Answer 7

One other thing you need to know.....it is best to set up a LLC and have the LLC own the airplane, not you. My dad and I did that to protect out personal assets if an incident occurred.

Too many lawyers nowadays, so you do what you gotta do....

Answer 8

Should you have one of those situations which no one can imagine happening.....believe me it does!!!, you'll wish you had insurance.

Answer 9

if your dead what they get does not matter too you