Insurance premiums

[MikeOH]

11 minutes ago, kortopates said:

Hey thanks! I was guessing it was passing by Coco's but I see it was going by Liberia. We had departed Panama heading into El Salvador. 

I would love to stop in Costa Rica, but twice we've done trips down here and each time I gave up stopping in Costa Rica because of the huge fees they charge for us little guys.  They wanted near $300 a day to park over night and now they. They really don't want us. So when we did  three weeks touring in Costa Rica it was by airliner.

Ugh! Sorry to hear that as my wife and I love Costa Rica and if I ever get the courage to fly outside the US we’d love to take our plane. But not at that price

[T. Peterson]

12 hours ago, PT20J said:

Food for thought.

https://www.avweb.com/features/pelicans-perch-80-gear-up-landing-in-a-747/

Skip

Excellent article. Thanks for posting.

[A64Pilot]

Costa Rica has changed then, I used to deliver a couple of crop duster a year down there.

The trick used to be paying for “ground handling” the Company set that up so I don’t have specifics, but you paid for services, and it wasn’t much, they would guide you to parking, tie you down, put your bags in a van, they would take you to customs, you would sit in the van they would take your passport and in 5 min or less they would come back with it stamped and take you to your Motel, if you let them they would have all that set up, even the Motel price was less than you would pay without them.

I’m sure they would get a kick back, but the price to you in the end was less. We learned pretty quickly if I showed up not having made any arrangements that sometimes they would impound the airplane and want essentially a bribe to let it go. This was true in Honduras, Guatemala, Columbia even Ecuador, but pay for ground handling which I think may have been $200 or so and you were treated as royalty.

I couldn’t bring myself to do it, but wearing the shirt with Capt epaulets also went a long way.

Just like you can get a “crew card” and get through US Customs at major airports going through the Crew line, even flying Commercial, never did that myself but considered it.

Google “ground handling services in Central America” and you’ll get lots of hits for companies that will handle all the paperwork and permits, fees etc.

[KLRDMD]

On 1/15/2023 at 9:58 AM, MikeOH said:

I wonder if there is a market for an insurance policy that EXCLUDES gear-ups?

I once had a policy that included a $10k deductible for a gear up.

[MikeOH]

1 hour ago, KLRDMD said:

I once had a policy that included a $10k deductible for a gear up.

@KLRDMD

Do you recall how much that deductible discounted your rate?

[KLRDMD]

31 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

@KLRDMD

Do you recall how much that deductible discounted your rate?

I do not. I believe it was a condition of getting into my first twin.

[Parker_Woodruff]

 

30 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

@KLRDMD

Do you recall how much that deductible discounted your rate?

The carrier that does this typically insures more tough to insure cases (like late ‘50s Cessna 310s). 
 

If they’re still charging a minimum premium like they were a year or so ago, it’s more than what you’re paying now

[carusoam]

If distraction is a big problem for SELs…

It must be double for twins… more GUMPs to take care of, more tanks to hide fuel in…

 

If I could save 1amu as a trade for a 10amu deductible…

That would be interesting….  

 

Kind of a gamble… 20yrs of putting the legs down every time without missing a single one… makes you feel a bit cocky, doesn’t it? 

Best regards,

-a-

[Hank]

4 hours ago, carusoam said:

20yrs of putting the legs down every time without missing a single one… makes you feel a bit cocky, doesn’t it? 

I'm only at a decade and a half, and still clearly remember my "almost" arriving at RDU for the Hurricane Relief effort in Sept. '18.

Tower sent me 20 nm north of the field at 7500 msl before turning me inbound, at which point I was #11 to land, I think. Caught the floor indicator being red on my short final check, and dropped the wheels after coming over the fence . . . . I'd only put them down every time for eleven years at that time . . . . It can happen to anyone, especially when things are "different". 

[A64Pilot]

6 hours ago, carusoam said:

 

Kind of a gamble… 20yrs of putting the legs down every time without missing a single one… makes you feel a bit cocky, doesn’t it? 

Best regards,

-a-

Again Military as that’s my experience base, but I don’t think there is a difference, people are people, but newly minted pilots were often safe as long as they didn’t get in over their heads (task saturated) as they were more likely to follow checklists etc., but somewhere around the few hundred hour mark up to about the thousand hour mark the accident rate went up, because in their belief they were Pro’s now and had this thing mastered.

Usually what happened was they had a near miss, that scared them straight and they went back to following the checklists etc., or they had an accident.

I know what my obsession with the gear is, is for two reasons, I don’t fly every single good weather day like I did for years, and I’m getting to an age point to where simply put I’m not as on the ball as I used to be. I only fly about twice a week now and zero IFR

I hope that by recognizing and admitting I’m not as good as I used to be that will mitigate my shortcomings.

Complacency is a cruel Mistress, she will get you. She got me once

[Parker_Woodruff]

8 hours ago, carusoam said:

 

 

If I could save 1amu as a trade for a 10amu deductible…

That would be interesting….  

 

Also, twin = two engine teardowns & two props after a gear up.

[Pinecone]

8 hours ago, Parker_Woodruff said:

Also, twin = two engine teardowns & two props after a gear up.

$10K deductible is $10K deductible, no matter how many engines and props.

 

[MikeOH]

20 hours ago, carusoam said:

If distraction is a big problem for SELs…

It must be double for twins… more GUMPs to take care of, more tanks to hide fuel in…

 

If I could save 1amu as a trade for a 10amu deductible…

That would be interesting….  

 

Kind of a gamble… 20yrs of putting the legs down every time without missing a single one… makes you feel a bit cocky, doesn’t it? 

Best regards,

-a-

Yes, it's an "interesting" calculus, for sure!

I'm looking at my premium history:  when I bought my F over five years ago my premium was under $900 (and I only had 100 hours in Mooneys), now I'm closing in on 500 hours...and my premium has nearly doubled! (NO, I haven't had any claims!!)

So, as I age and hit 'the magic number' I suspect premiums are going to get wicked...this option, if available, might well be worth considering.

[KLRDMD]

23 hours ago, Parker_Woodruff said:

The carrier that does this typically insures more tough to insure cases (like late ‘50s Cessna 310s). 

My first twin was a Seneca III. For my 310, I didn't even have to have transition training.

[KLRDMD]

21 hours ago, carusoam said:

It must be double for twins… more GUMPs to take care of, more tanks to hide fuel in…

Not necessarily. In both my Seneca and P337s, each engine had a tank. No switching ever so easier than a Mooney for fuel management.

[Pinecone]

Times have changed.

I instructed in the early 80s.  If someone wanted a check out (wasn't needed), I would do a short solo flight to check myself out, then fly with them.   Not these days.