Insurance Available For Turf Runway

[Aggie Aviator]

So we are thinking about buying a lot at a runway neighborhood (in Texas) and when I had my insurance agent see about quotes she came back saying the companies she reached out to suggested that they wouldn't insure the Mooney on a turf strip (one of the runways is 3,300 feet long so I don't see this as the problem).  

 

Does this sound reasonable? 

 

I have a friend who flew off of a turf strip for 15 years and had insurance. 

Edited July 31, 2021 by Aggie Aviator

[Mooney Dog]

It would depend on your total time more than anything if they insure you or not on a grass strip i would think, and even then it just comes down to money.

I do instruction out of a private neighborhood runways that is grass, also 3500ft long. There are 2 mooney's i know of based there. I will attempt to ask them next chance i get if you havnt gotten a better answer till then. I do know there's a slight stigma about grass runways and mooney's on the insurance side though. 

[tmo]

I know this is an irrelevant data point (I am in Europe) but my Mooney is based on a grass airfield and that was never an issue. Admittedly, such airfields are much more common here than in the US, where the government built real runways all over the place.

[Mooneymite]

Retractable gear airplanes on turf seem to be getting harder and harder to sell to the underwriters.  I'm not sure why since turf does not seem to be a causal factor in gear up landings.  However, not all turf runways are smooth, or suitable for Mooneys.

I've operated my Mooney off of a grass home-drome for over 20 years.  Once I got the coverage, renewals have been perfunctory. 

Perhaps good pictures of the runway included with the application could convince the underwriter that  the runway is suitable?

Edited July 31, 2021 by Mooneymite

[Oldguy]

Maybe @Parker_Woodruff could shine some light on this. 

[Aggie Aviator]

2 hours ago, Oldguy said:

Maybe @Parker_Woodruff could shine some light on this. 

That is sort of what i was hoping. 

[Parker_Woodruff]

Depending on your flight experience, that will tell you which carriers will quote. Within all available carriers, only about 1-2 will quote on turf. 
 

So if your pilot experience is on the lighter side, your age is 70+ as new business, or if you have claim history, you may not get any quotes at all.

[Aggie Aviator]

I have about 240 hours so what's the magic number of hours? 

 

Would an instrument rating make a difference? 

 

 

[Mooney Dog]

49 minutes ago, Aggie Aviator said:

I have about 240 hours so what's the magic number of hours? 

 

Would an instrument rating make a difference? 

 

 

Absolutely so and IFR would help. A CPL would be even better. The magic number is normally 500 hours. 

[Aggie Aviator]

Looks like I'll have to get on the horse to start racking up time. 

 

With avionics install at the end of 2019 (6 months down), Covid and frozen pipes from the big freeze, my flying has been unacceptably low. 

[carusoam]

There is only one way to go after all that….  

Go UP!

-a-