Pilot Liability Insurance: Cost & Quotes From $15

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Operating machinery that requires intense training like heavy equipment, excavators, tractors, dump trucks, or skid steers, is high in demand and if used wisely may yield steady income, while also potentially exposing you to high risk. The same goes to operating aircrafts.

Flying an aircraft requires years of training, and learning how to fly can be difficult at first. However, once you mastered it, you discover that operating an airplane is much easier even than operating a car.

“No, it's pretty easy, at least for most of the flight, when you are running straight and level. Turning the yoke (the wheel) will turn the aircraft in that direction. Pulling back on the yoke makes the sky get larger, pushing in makes the ground get bigger. As long as you don't make any sudden or violent moves, you'll continue to fly.”  (Source)

Still, just like driving a vehicle on land, flying an aircraft has its fair share of risks. For example, the engine can malfunction, control towers might have slight miscommunication, and bad weather can cause drastic accidents.  When any of this happens, you might have to face professional liability and pay fees. 

If you are want to avoid this potentially happening to you, you will be smart to invest in a pilot insurance policy. Since there are many forms of insurance for pilots, we’re going to explore what kinds of insurance pilots can get their hands on, how much does pilot insurance costs, and the best pilot insurance companies to get it from.

Please fasten your seat-belts, we are taking off!

Also read: Soccer Insurance for Clubs, Teams, Leagues & Players

Pilot Liability Insurance

Pilot general liability insurance is one of the most common types of insurance that carriers offer to commercial and private pilots because these policies apply to situations that could result in common and hefty expenses. However, general liability insurance differs in many ways when compared to other policies available.

General liability insurance for their professions has terms that apply for claims arising from situations happening in the premises of the office. As for pilots, their general liability policy applies to any plane they decide to operate as it's considered their place of work. 

Pilot general liability insurance applies when you’ve caused a bodily injury to a third party while you’re operating the aircraft. For example, if you cause accidents and injure passengers due to an accident, this insurance will pay for the costs.

However, bodily injury isn’t the only thing that pilot liability insurance will pay out for, as it will also cover you in case you cause property damage while operating the aircraft. Using the previous example, a liability policy will protect you if the accident damaged valuable goods such as phones, computers, and materials for export. 

A lot of insurance policies available for pilots can be paired with a general liability policy for comprehensive coverage. For example, there's professional liability coverage that will help to sort things out when a pilot commits mistakes or errors while operating a plane.

Commercial Insurance for Pilots

There are many different forms of business insurance policies available for commercial pilots, ranging from the basic pilot liability coverage that we mentioned up above to disability insurance. Disability coverage may seem redundant for pilots when they already have medical coverage from their companies, but there are some exceptions that may make it necessary.

For example, if your  medical coverage gets all used up after an accident and you still need money to handle your disabilities, you’ll still be covered by your own disability coverage. Additional liability insurance of your own may help cover expenses that exceed the limits your employer’s policy has.

Private Pilot Insurance

Insurance for private pilots is available in just as many forms as it is for commercial pilots. However, private pilots need their own coverage more than commercial pilots because they’re not affiliated with any company who can provide them with needed coverage.

This means that you may wish to get your hands on disability insurance in case you get into an accident while flying your private aircraft. You may also wish to get your aircraft insured to cover costs for repairs , property damage, and accidents.

Pilot Business Insurance: The Advantages of a BOP for Pilots

Business insurance is also known as a business owner policy (BOP). These insurance policies are known for combining several forms of insurance into one convenient package. As you may have expected from the name of this coverage, it mainly combines insurance policies that are advantageous for business owners.

BOPs are popular with insurance carriers because they ensure that their customers stick with them instead of getting a policy from the competition, especially if the competitor’s policy is cheaper. By putting together two policies that are in demand and discounting them, carriers make sure that their customers stick with them.

However, BOPs can vary  depending on which insurance carrier you get the policy from and the amount of money you’re paying for the policy each month. More affordable policies will typically feature fewer types of coverage, sometimes being limited to public liability coverage and commercial property insurance.

If you pay a bit more for your BOP, you may get bumped up to general liability coverage accompanied by commercial property insurance, employers’ liability coverage, and more. Keep in mind that some BOPs will also feature optional add-ons that you can get for a discounted rate, as well.

Pilot Insurance Cost

• The average pilot general liability insurance cost is $82 per month or $984 per year for a $1 million dollar coverage
• The average small flight school insurance cost in America is $208 per month or $2,496 per year for $1 million in liability coverage

The cost typically depends on a range of different aspects of your business, including how large it is. If you own a larger piloting business, you’ll have to pay more for insurance because you’re likely to have more clients, meaning that the insurance company will be more likely to have to pay out for you.

The opposite can be said of a smaller aviation business since they will be less likely to file claims, and if they do end up filing a claim, the insurer will likely have to pay less. We’ve put together a table of the quotes that we got from 3 of the best pilot insurance providers:

To get these prices, we used a pilot with 10 years of experience and has no prior history of making claims related to aviation. We did this to get our values as close to reference as possible.