Category: Aviation Insurance Resources

A common practice for many FBO2019s has been to classify their customer service representatives who work behind the counter in the FBO lobby as clerical employees, if for no other reason than this was a logical choice given the work environment of the employee. Some of these FBO2019s have been doing this for years without any comment or exception from their workers compensation insurance company. However, an onsite audit from the NCCI could reveal some surprises. (The National Council on Compensation Insurance 2013NCCI-publishes the NCCI Scopes Manual which most states accept as the standard for employee classification). Aviation operators have Full Article

Choosing the right broker can be the most important thing you do to assure the best coverage at the best price. A previous article briefly described three methods of choosing a broker; a) the shotgun approach, b) providing a test by assigning markets to several brokers, and c) hiring a single broker through an interview process. The shotgun approach of calling as many brokers as you can find and seeing who comes back with the best quote provides a consistent scattershot result. Sometimes you get lucky. Usually both broker and buyer end up frustrated and unsure what the best result Full Article

By Jim Gardner jim.gardner@jagardner.com Author’s note: While this article was originally written in 2011, it is still valid today. And, because we have returned to a “Hard Market”, it is more important than ever that you are able to find the best value in the market at renewal. We are in the midst of a soft market that began in 2006. Since then, aviation insurance rates have declined to their lowest point in history. Beginning in the winter of 2010 many in the aviation insurance industry have been predicting a return to a hard market. A “Hard Market” is generally Full Article

While the aviation community is relatively small compared to other industries, I have found on various aviation trade organization forums a rich source of talented and knowledgeable aviation professionals who willing share what they have learned. They are just as interested in learning from those whose experiences are different from theirs. These forums are dedicated to providing a free flowing information exchange to help improve safety, experience, and knowledge concerning the full spectrum of aviation operations. Recently I ran across an interesting thread on one of these forums. Even though this was a fixed wing forum, the conversation applies equally Full Article

The current soft market has provided a windfall for most aircraft and helicopter owners and operators, as well as FBO’s and maintenance providers. However, the economy… It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search Full Article

There are several indications the current soft market that began in 2006 may have bottomed out, signaling a potential return to the hard markets seen in 2001 -2005. A “Hard Market” is generally characterized by fewer markets bidding on a particular risk resulting in fewer options, increased rates and premiums, decreased limits of liability, fewer ancillary coverages, in addition to more stringent underwriting requirements on training with less flexibility for the operational managers. For most industry experts, the question isn’t “if”, but “when” and “how” the aviation insurance industry will return to a hard market. The other questions are, “how Full Article

Subrogation is the right that every insurance company reserves in all insurance policies to recover losses from a third party deemed to have contributed to the loss.  In many cases that third party could be the non-owner pilot whether the pilot is named, renting or borrowing the aircraft. Aircraft insurance is carried by the party that normally has care, custody, and control of the aircraft, is responsible for maintaining the airworthiness of the aircraft, and has dispatch authority whether that be an owner or a lessor.   A non-owner pilot is the pilot named on the insurance policy other than the Full Article

There is a persistent misconception that all aviation insurance agents work for the insurance companies. First, there are two kinds of agents: captive agents and independent agents or brokers. In the auto insurance industry companies like State Farm or Allstate, have a large network of captive agents who sell insurance policies exclusively for that insurance company and no one else. Sometimes they are employees of that company. Often times they are independent contractors with an exclusive agreement to sell only that company’s products. The term “direct write” is often used to describe this system. Either way, when a buyer talks Full Article

Consider the following adaptation of an actual incident several years ago. The pilot of a turbine helicopter wasn’t paying close enough attention to his fuel… It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for Full Article

The broker of record letter is a simple document that establishes the written intent of an aircraft owner or commercial operator for the insurance underwriters to deal with a specific broker. Unfortunately this simple document is misunderstood by many clients and misused by some brokers. Because the aviation insurance industry is so small, all aviation insurance companies and underwriters except one use the broker system rather than captive agents. In the auto insurance industry it is common for an agent to represent only one company, like State Farm or Allstate. Other companies like Geico market directly to the consumer. When Full Article