Insurance for a CFI?

Blip16

Blip16

Well-Known Member
do you guys carry it? i was looking at AOPA and Avemco (i think that is right) tonight trying to figure out the coverage and what everything means.

i want the CFI insurance and the damage insurance, but i am not sure of what coverage level and what exactly they cover.

for example. the FBO i work at has a 5,000 deductable if someone breaks the airplane, so does that mean i need to get insurance to cover that, or more?
 
NAFI, (national association of flight instructors) has the best. It even has multi engine included all for about 600 bucks a year.
 
Your school doesn't cover you? This is one thing I'm also wondering about.

On average, if you're an employee of the school, their insurance doesn't cover their employees whose duty it is to fly the planes?

Just another cost I love see put off onto employees.
 
surreal1221 said:
Your school doesn't cover you? This is one thing I'm also wondering about.

On average, if you're an employee of the school, their insurance doesn't cover their employees whose duty it is to fly the planes?

Just another cost I love see put off onto employees.
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i work at an FBO
 
surreal1221 said:
Your school doesn't cover you? This is one thing I'm also wondering about.

On average, if you're an employee of the school, their insurance doesn't cover their employees whose duty it is to fly the planes?

Just another cost I love see put off onto employees.
Click to expand...

From a former insurance person:

Flight schools generally cover their own liability, not the flight instrutors specifically even if it is the instructor's action or inaction that causes damages to someone. Realistically if there is an incident the person whose person or property was damaged will seek to recoup their damages from both the flight school and the flight instructor, and in some cases the student at the controls as well.

Even if you qualify as an operator in the airplane's insurance policy and are listed on it, that insurance policy only covers direct damages (bodily injury and property damage) caused by the airplane. It won't generally protect the operator if accident is ruled to have been caused by pilot negligence (which most pilot error accidents could qualify as), which can be sought as punative damages in a court of law. You'd have to review the insurance contract your FBO to be sure but I would say it is unlikely that the FBO insurance would pay for your attorneys fees if you were sued seperately for negligence.

The NAFI policy for CFIs is a pretty good product, its pretty cheap. On the other hand you're unlikely to survive an accident if it does really significent damage to someone else's person or property anyway. Counting on dying in an accident may not be the wisest idea though. :)
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
From a former insurance person:

Flight schools generally cover their own liability, not the flight instrutors specifically even if it is the instructor's action or inaction that causes damages to someone. Realistically if there is an incident the person whose person or property was damaged will seek to recoup their damages from both the flight school and the flight instructor, and in some cases the student at the controls as well.

Even if you qualify as an operator in the airplane's insurance policy and are listed on it, that insurance policy only covers direct damages (bodily injury and property damage) caused by the airplane. It won't generally protect the operator if accident is ruled to have been caused by pilot negligence (which most pilot error accidents could qualify as), which can be sought as punative damages in a court of law. You'd have to review the insurance contract your FBO to be sure but I would say it is unlikely that the FBO insurance would pay for your attorneys fees if you were sued seperately for negligence.

The NAFI policy for CFIs is a pretty good product, its pretty cheap. On the other hand you're unlikely to survive an accident if it does really significent damage to someone else's person or property anyway. Counting on dying in an accident may not be the wisest idea though. :)
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so what would be a good coverage level to look into buying?
 
Professional liability insurance. The NAFI policy is one of these. If you want protection for only negligence you can usually get a professional liability policy called "errors and omissions". This would cover if you make a huge mistake in or out of the plane -- like if you were flying too low, had an engine failure and crashed (this is negligence if they can show you were lower than the FARs say you should have been). Or if you teach your student exactly the wrong way and as a result of your instruction he crashes during a solo.
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
Professional liability insurance. The NAFI policy is one of these. If you want protection for only negligence you can usually get a professional liability policy called "errors and omissions". This would cover if you make a huge mistake in or out of the plane -- like if you were flying too low, had an engine failure and crashed (this is negligence if they can show you were lower than the FARs say you should have been). Or if you teach your student exactly the wrong way and as a result of your instruction he crashes during a solo.
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does normal CFI insurance cover all of that plus medical or hull damage, etc?

i was wondering what $$$ amount of coverage
 
Normal liability insurance covers Bodily Injury and Property Damages that you are liable for. Your own medical problems wouldn't be covered (can't be liable to yourself) but if you crashed into a house and injured someone in that house their injuries would be covered up to the liability limit on the policy.
The NAFI policy also has extras like coverage for renting a/c and other things, so I think its probably the best product for CFIs. Its like $600/yr.
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
Normal liability insurance covers Bodily Injury and Property Damages that you are liable for. Your own medical problems wouldn't be covered (can't be liable to yourself) but if you crashed into a house and injured someone in that house their injuries would be covered up to the liability limit on the policy.
The NAFI policy also has extras like coverage for renting a/c and other things, so I think its probably the best product for CFIs. Its like $600/yr.
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that is what i was wondering, get the minimums for liability, or get a higher amount.

AOPA's insurance seems like it covers everything NAFI's does for less
 
The AOPA CFI insurance seems to be a little bit more than the NAFI policy, but only by a few dollars. Both are pretty much the same thing.

I would recommend you get enough liability coverage to cover your personal assets. I am poor so the minimums are enough.
 
No, those are right. Same for NAFI's policy. I said $600 to imply the higher limits so as not to give you the price for the absolute minimum coverage and then you be suprised when you need more coverage.
 
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