Liability insurance requirements at airports

Hi all,

Hawaii has a $1 million liability insurance requirement on any aircraft based at an airport in the state. They just announced that they are going to increase this requirement to $2 million. This apparently applies without concern for whether the aircraft is located in a hangar or tied down outside and without concern for the type or size of aircraft. We in Chapter 1182 in Hilo would like to collect some data for what the requirements are at airports on the mainland, because this seems completely unreasonable. (This is in addition to a monthly cost of over $100 for a tiedown and over $500 for a rusty old T-hangar.)

If people could post the requirements at their home airport, I'd appreciate it. We are looking to petition the state and possibly also the FAA about this.

Thanks,

/Patrik J.

Is this type certificated airplanes or everything and anything called an airplane tied down or in a hangar?

Anything with an N-number.

Texas does not have a state requirement, but some municipal airports require it....but they are in the minority. typical is one million combined property and medical/100,000 personal injury. also typical is the requirement to name the municipality as covered in the policy. what is interesting is when you get into the fine print of the policy, you may not be covered for all the things you (and the municipality) assume you are. I had several questions as to how it all worked and what was covered/when....my agent, who specializes in aircraft insurance....had trouble explaining it all. in fact, he was clueless as to some of the policy conditions. seems like if HI is requiring it, it is to cover people and property anywhere in the state you go. in the case of my coverage, it is to only cover what might happen on the municipal airport. the more you dig into this type coverage, the more questions it raises.

My county airport in Washington state has no insurance requirement for tiedown space ($38/month)
Never had insurance in Alaska either.

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Originally Posted by Bill Berson

My county airport in Washington state has no insurance requirement for tiedown space ($38/month)ug
Never had insurance in Alaska either.

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Auburn airport in Washington just instituted a million-dollar requirement, with the city listed as additional insured.

Ron Wanttaja

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Originally Posted by rwanttaja

Auburn airport in Washington just instituted a million-dollar requirement, with the city listed as additional insured.

Ron Wanttaja

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Sorry to here that. I guess this insurance mandate and the ADS-B mandate in 2020 will knock many out of private aviation.

The legal eagle looks better everyday. Maybe time to trade down for one if this happens all over. Basic Medical will be of no good if this happens across the board. I was speaking with a friend the other day about this subject. He has been featured or his build has been featured within the pages of EAA mag. He purchased a Kolb or something similar. He then checked into insuring it. He found the insurance cost more then the Kolb cost him. He said he will fly naked or without insurance and I don't blame him. Most who fly these style airplanes fly this way just because of this reason. He said I have over 5000 hrs flying and they want more to insure this then my RV that grazed the pages of EAA mag.

Tony

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Originally Posted by 1600vw

I was speaking with a friend the other day about this subject. He purchased a Kolb or something similar. He then checked into insuring it. He found the insurance cost more then the Kolb cost him. He said he will fly naked or without insurance and I don't blame him.

Tony

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Does that mean he'll fly without liability insurance or hull or both? Clarify. If he doesn't maintain liability, will you have the same cavalier attitude of "I don't blame him" if he crashes into your house and kills or maims your family?

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Originally Posted by 1600vw

The legal eagle looks better everyday. Maybe time to trade down for one if this happens all over. Basic Medical will be of no good if this happens across the board. I was speaking with a friend the other day about this subject. He has been featured or his build has been featured within the pages of EAA mag. He purchased a Kolb or something similar. He then checked into insuring it. He found the insurance cost more then the Kolb cost him.

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He must have been trying to get full coverage. My liability insurance costs me less than $200/year.

Ron Wanttaja

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Originally Posted by rwanttaja

He must have been trying to get full coverage. My liability insurance costs me less than $200/year.

Ron Wanttaja

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FWIW, I've been quoted over $1k per year for $500k liability on a Sonex... But then, I'm a student pilot. I'd certainly hope it would go down once I'm not.

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Originally Posted by lutorm

FWIW, I've been quoted over $1k per year for $500k liability on a Sonex... But then, I'm a student pilot. I'd certainly hope it would go down once I'm not.

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My coverage is $100K, that might make part of the difference.

Ron Wanttaja

My home airport, KHEF has a liability requirement and requires the airport to be listed as additional insured. I think it is $1m per incident. Not sure about the amount because that was what I already had on my plane. All I had to do was get them listed as additional insured. I slow rolled them on that for a couple of years as the hangar agreement only said I had to have insurance, not that the airport was additional. The airport manager said the requirement was an legal interpretation of the city counsel. I chose to follow the notion that a legal opinion is not legally binding. Eventually they amended the rental contract and I added the airport with my next insurance renewal. It didn't cost any more to add the airport. I was just being curmudgeonly about it.

as I alluded to before, what the airport thinks they are covered for and what the insurance company will actually pay may be two different things. I had a similar policy and the more I dug the more I found that the airport/municipality was not covered to the extent they thought they were getting. a lot of ignorance on the part of the municipalities regarding how much this type of policy protects them. it is a "fashionable" policy that more are jumping on the bandwagon because they think it is the right thing for them.

That actually makes me feel a little better about it. I did not like the idea that my insurance would cover an accident at the airport where the airport was at least partly at fault.

It appears there is a growing wave across the country of municipalities growing skittish about being in the aviation business. Increasingly, these type of insurance policies are being demanded. Note this is NOT aviation insurance. This is hangar insurance. We had our insurance companies review the new lease agreement and they advised that if we signed the lease, it would invalidate the aviation insurance. They are willing to sell hangar insurance for an additional fee.

Read your aviation policy carefully - or talk to you agent.

This is a growing problem and we need EAA/AOPA to help!

I read my policy very carefully. Then I called my agent with a list of questions.....most of which she had no idea. After talking to the underwriter, she was still not clear on what is covered. I thought it was aviation insurance, and it might be, but mostly (I think) it is hangar insurance. I asked the municipality what they think is covered. No idea. I asked them why they require it.....they said because their insurer told them to require it. I still have no clear idea of what these policies cover. Concur, I would appreciate EAA/AOPA taking a look at this.

Its easy to understand why municipalities want high hangar liability limits. If you're in a row of hangars, whats in the other hangars? My hangar is in a row of 18 (nine back to back). If the average cost of the planes is $50,000 (that's probably way low) and something I do catches the hangars on fire, my exposure is $900,000. I grind, weld, drill, etc in my hangar. Although a fire is not likely, it a very real possibility. I guaranty, with each hangar having 20 - 100 gallons of 100LL inside, if a fire starts its not stopping. I think hangar liability is probably more important than liability coverage on your plane.