Fatal Assumption - I lost a son. Part 2

Terrible as it was, we learned another interesting lesson. My dad obtained one of those over the phone insurance policies. The face of the policy talks about an RV4 as a two seat aircraft with certain liabilities per accident and coverage to the occupants. I challenge anyone who reads this to look at his or her policy and if you do not believe what I am about to say, ask your agent or ask an attorney. What it says and what it means are two different things. The attorney claims that case law states something very different than the face of the policy.

The policy states occupants. That is plural. In a two place aircraft, that should mean two. But the pilot does not count as an occupant. Therefore, even though he was not an owner of the aircraft, and even though Bob was clearly listed as an additional insured, his estate (mom) was not entitled to the life insurance portion of the policy. This was an Avemco policy not unlike every policy advertised in countless aviation magazines. So if you believe your wife or kids will benefit from the insurance premium you are paying for, or worse, if you loan you aircraft to someone, that someone?s wife or kids will not collect anything from your policy in case of death. The passenger will collect, but the pilot will not. Trust me, I read, re-read, and solicited the advice of top EAA attorney?s, business attorney?s, and they all explain what it says is not what it means. Go figure.

An accident and loss of loved ones is never expected or prepared for. We always blame ourselves for what we should have done different. Bob deserved and had every right and credential to fly an RV4 safely. I hope this story can stimulate just one dad, just one builder, just one proud owner to take just one minute and think about how this accident happened. Convince yourself that it will never happen to you. Pull out you policy. Read it. Then pick up the phone and call your agent. By all means, register your aircraft as an LLC.

Imagine a phone call to the family of the deceased to inform them of something bad happened on such a beautiful day and why.

It pays to take a moment and convince yourself: This would not happen to me.

Ned Bowers
Skybolt

Ned,
Thank you for sharing your experience. I am sure it still hurts, but maybe the act of telling us what happened will help ease the pain. Surely we can all learn from each other's experiences.
Sincerely,
Don

Ned,

This is a highly touching and meaningful post. THANK YOU and I wish you continued healing of your heart and soul.

I agree that the lack of acro/unusual attitude training in our GA world troubles me. I took a five hour acro course with the French Connection folks with one of their CFI's...Alex Mirkovic. Great guy, patient, constantly asking me how I felt and if I was still having fun...and boy did I learn stuff. I consider that training to be an absolute must to become at least cognizant of a bad situation before it ever gets there in the first place. Are you high enough? What's your "out" if it goes wrong? Have you cleared the airspace first?

Raising my son in an airpark setting has given me many times to ponder the what if's and how to's regarding showing him how to fly, assuming he even wants to learn. I'm no CFI...just a bottom dweller Private Pilot who flies with a healthy respect for how truly fragile we are. I have decided to slow down a bit in our flying by selling my RV8 and will then buy A C180 or 182. As much as I dearly love my RV, the temptation to toss it around with my five year old "perfect parts" son in the back is just too strong. I rolled the airplane once (3,000'AGL by the way) and he grinned big time...then told Momma when we got back home. Momma not happy. I don't want to even slightly push that envelope again with her. Daddy will build another RV again, but daddy's job now is to behave himself and teach Skyler to fly with him in a more comfortable and docile environment. His decision to continue in aviation will be his, not mine. Either way, I will love him to the core of my being.

Your insurance gotcha is mighty good information. My next airplane(s) will be owned by our LLC.

I wish you the very best and thank you again for sharing this story.

A question?

Ned,

Would you clarify for us? Are you talking about an airplane liability policy or a life insurance policy?

And thank you for taking the time to share about this.

John Babrick

Thank you Ned

I truly appreciate you putting these thoughts in type where we can learn from them. Stories like this, coupled with getting a little older, seems to make me a more conservative pilot. This is a good thing!

My sincere condolences,

Doug

Fatal Assumption Replay

The policy was a standard over-the-counter aircraft insurance policy. I do not have it in front of me but it reads like any policy that states payment in case of death, liability for persons and property, and basic hull insurance. What it says is clearly not what it means in the case of the pilot as, according to the insurance and legal world, he was not an occupant. Bob's mom collected nothing, but frankly, wanted nothing except to wake up from a horrible dream.

Ned Bowers

So the bottom line is that a standard policy doesn't pay a death benefit to the pilot's family, regardless of whether he is the policyholder or owns the aircraft?

I need to check my life insurance to see if there are any restrictions...

Thanks for sharing, Ned

There are those who have been saying that writing and discussing as we do about accidents does not make us better or safer pilots. I would dispute that. After reading Ned's post I am taking more serious steps myself to get emergency maneuver training completed, even if I have to go back to Cali for a week to get it done. I have to think that if/when I get that done I will be a bit safer as a pilot.

Again Ned, my sympathies and thank you for sharing with us.

John Babrick

I guess I never expected the pilot's family to receive money from the aircraft's policy if he died in a crash. I thought that's what life insurance was for. But does the insurance policy cover medical costs for a surviving pilot?

I was always under the impression that my liability policy covers just that -- my liability to others who suffer a loss due to my actions. For example, if I crash my car, my policy will pay to make others whole again. As far as my own losses go, that would be my problem. I wouldn't expect the liability portion of my auto coverage to pay for injuries to me. Having said that, I suppose I'd have to read the fine print to figure out what happens if the person driving/flying is not the person on the policy.

Definitely a very sad story. For me the saddest part in reading it was the part about dad losing all interest in aviation.

Life Insurance and ADD policies-Check your policy

When I was building my RV-4 (back in good old 1980's) I worked for a large defense contractor. We had very good benefits including optional Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment (ADD) insurance options. When I signed up to the ADD policy it clearly stated in the benefits brochure that the policy would only payout if the accident aviation accident occurred in certified aircraft (if I recall correctly). So as I read it if something bad happened and I got severely injured in an RV accident then I wasn't covered. I was rather surprised.

Years later I bought independent term life insurance and one of the questions I had to answer was if I was a pilot and actively flying. At that time I wasn't current but I asked the agent about the question and he mentioned he would have to add a "writer" to the policy (more premiums) if I was actively flying.

Paul

Stall warner

Aside from how to buy insurance, there might be a more important lesson here for a bunch of airplane builders. Would two people be alive today if their plane had been able to tell them they were about to stall?

A stall vane costs $89 from Spruce. If you're afraid someone will snicker, for $874 you can get an AOA and they'll think you're cool.

I don't see what good emergency maneuver training would have made in this case. It doesn't sound like there was room to recover (as usual). And I'm no expert but don't you need engine power to recover from an inverted flat spin? Carberators don't work inverted.

If any good could come from this tragedy, it would be if it changed attitudes about stall warning devices.

Yes I agree...

That EMT might not have made a difference in this case. But my point was that the relating of the experience motivates me to get that training done. There are plenty of cases where such training would be helpful. And yes, a stall vane would be useful too.

John Babrick

I was 21 with just over 100 hours in a 150 when I was given the privilege of flying my friend and instructors RV-4, Boyd was very generous he taught me in his 150 largely at his expense. Boyd was an old USAF pilot and had many thousands of hours giving instruction, I think he learned these lessons already as before I was turned loose with his -4 he gave me extensive aerobatic instruction in the -4, he knew what a 21 year old boy in a high performance plane would want to do so he prepared me for it the best he could and I survived and now enjoy my own -4.

Devices are fine but can never replace good instruction/experience, assuming Bob?s accident was pilot or passenger caused they would have been alright with this instruction under his belt.

Thanks for sharing and sorry for your loss.