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  #1  
Old 06-15-2010, 12:30 PM
tdhanson tdhanson is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 92
Default Preparing for worst-case scenario and having affairs in order

I got a call from my brother last night. Seems 15 minutes earlier he was flying in the pattern and heard a scream on the radio. The guy flying right behind him with his girlfriend along went down. It was a Rans S6 (similar to a kitfox). I had seen this plane a month or so ago when I went out to fly my brother's Rans S14. Before I flew we went to a few of the other hangars and looked at a nice S6, and unfinished S7, a guy with some ultralights and a Cessna 150 taildragger. This guy had his S6 out and was bolting on a muffler to the Rotax 582. The quality and age of the plane wasn?t as nice as the other nicer one in the other hangar. I didn't preflight other than a cursory glance that it seemed all together but was undergoing maintenance. I don't know the details so I won't speculate.


The radio said something about witnesses saying it was a stall. However, I?ll wait to hear. I don't know if he had a BRS.


http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/...,3086090.story

http://www.kcra.com/news/23900389/detail.html



Of course my wife reads about every plane crash and this one hit closer to home when I told her my brother was out there flying right in front of this guy.


I'm still renting right now but want to build or buy a plane. However this brings up what I should have in place just in case the catastrophic event no one wants to happen does.

What Life Insurance should one have? Where to get it? Do many policies exclude flying?

What other affairs to put in order: Let spouse know of all accounts and be joint or beneficiary? Will or similar document? I'm young enough that such things aren't a pressing reality but old enough now that perhaps I should. BTW, the guy who crashed was about my age... mid 40's.

She hasn't enjoyed flying with me much in the past and now she's even more nervous even for me.

I'm not afraid of the things I can't control. I know I've got the training and am building on experience. I try not to press the envelope to build on the experience recklessly. I am renting from a reputable college aviation program. I am thorough on my pre-flight planning as well as am in good shape medically. So the only things I can't control are external factors.

I'm trying to build a checklst of things I can say are taken care of in the event of such a unforseen event to me. I know it will be of small comfort to her but it's better than saying I haven't cared enough to put any thought into.

Thanks in advance for any comments.
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  #2  
Old 06-15-2010, 12:39 PM
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Brantel Brantel is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Newport, TN
Posts: 7,496
Default

On life insurance...most normal policies have an exclusion for pilots meaning they won't pay...Some don't but make sure you double check the fine print and talk to someone that is familiar with pilot life insurance.....
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  #3  
Old 06-15-2010, 01:31 PM
JDRhodes JDRhodes is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Taylorsville, GA
Posts: 748
Default insurance

I've always followed the rule of thumb to carry 8-10X your annual income in life insurance. The thought being that, invested long term, the insurance proceeds should generate about as much as your salary in interest.

Yes - most life policies will decline you coverage if you are a pilot. Especially so if you fly experimental aircraft, gliders, etc. Won't get into whether this is good underwriting or not, just know that most do.

Google pilot life insurance and chat with an agent that if good at placing life policies for pilots. It's not much more expensive.

Be careful and don't do nuthin stupid - and you should be OK.
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  #4  
Old 06-15-2010, 01:42 PM
Crossbow Crossbow is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Charleston, WV
Posts: 139
Default

My advice is to always have your affairs in order if you fly.

My life insurance will not pay if I get killed while flying an experimental, that is why I also have some money tucked away in mutual funds and savings bonds which will be provided to the survivor regardless of how I die.
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  #5  
Old 06-15-2010, 01:45 PM
wjnmd wjnmd is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Ft Myers, FL
Posts: 276
Default Pilot Insurance Co.

I get my insurance through this company through Sky Smith Insurance in IA. Sky is a pilot and knows what we need. He occasionally contributes to the VAF forums. They know I am a pilot of an experimental airplane and the policy has no exclusions. I carry 10x my annual income. I recommend them.

Bill Near
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  #6  
Old 06-15-2010, 01:47 PM
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pmccoy pmccoy is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Orange County CA
Posts: 646
Default Life Insurance

As a low time pilot, when I fessed up, the insurance rate quotes went up. Then I found a company that was specializing in life insurance for pilots. The rates were the same as the other companies, prior to me telling them about flying.

The people I worked with were fair, and I am now covered with an appropriate amount of life insurance for my family. If you are interested in a reference, send me a pm. Not trying to give any advertising to a company that doesn't have a banner ad on this site.

Anyway, they also sent me an email recently that said new policy rates would be going up for student pilots and anyone with less then 100 hours PIC. So if you fall into those categories, you may want to take action soon.
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  #7  
Old 06-15-2010, 02:34 PM
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pierre smith pierre smith is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Louisville, Ga
Posts: 7,840
Default My wife and I just went through the process...

...of renewing both our wills, since we both have businesses and re-married.

I have life insurance that covers me even flying ag!! There's enough to clear the home mortgage and leave my kids some.

The wills take care of liquidating my business and the RV-10.

Death is a given...we just don't know when, so it's only prudent to think of the ones who remain behind,

Best,
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  #8  
Old 06-15-2010, 02:57 PM
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Dave Cole Dave Cole is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Roanoke, VA
Posts: 306
Default Look for an indepnedant agent

I bought life insurance through a local independent insurance agent. I told him up front that I wanted a policy without an aviation exclusion, including for operation of experimental aircraft. He shopped the market and was able to find an underwriter that offered very good rates with no aviation exclusions at all. All I had to do was supply them with a summary of my flying hours.
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  #9  
Old 06-15-2010, 03:04 PM
WhiskeyMike WhiskeyMike is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: WA State
Posts: 192
Default

As a life insurance broker I can tell you that there are quite a few quality carriers that will not preclude private pilots from standard rates (i.e. non-rated) for life insurance coverage. A few will even offer preferred rates. The criterion is based primarily on the age of the insured, their experience (total hours flown) and average hours flown each year. Seek out an experienced agent/broker to discuss these issues with you so that you can understand how your individual situation will work.

The amount of coverage that is appropriate for you to purchase should be based on your individual circumstances and objectives. In my 30+ years of experience I have never seen the ?real-world? needs of surviving family members adequately served by "rule of thumb" planning. We wouldn't think of flight planning by the rule of thumb method, would we? How about financial planning or retirement planning? It is true that some do "plan" these important matters by the "Kentucky Windage" method but it usually doesn't work out very well.

For some people the process of life insurance planning (i.e. working through the objectives and numbers) is unpleasant because, in my opinion, it requires people to confront their own mortality. Attorneys have the same problem getting people to do their wills and estate plans...it seems some people would rather take a beating than actually think through and make the appropriate decisions and arrangements. Every person gets to make their own call on how (or if) they approach this, but none of us should expect our goals to be achieved when we die unless we actually are willing to do proper planning.

One simple example of how you can go wrong. If you have 10 times your annual salary in life insurance when you die your survivors would have to earn an annual return of 10% on the proceeds to equal your salary. Remember, this should be an "income producing" investment, not some potentially high return (i.e. high risk) stock or venture. I would challenge someone to find such an investment paying a 10% return in the current investment environment. Not only this, but we have not taken inflation into consideration...the value of a dollar will not be the same tomorrow as it is today, and so more dollars will be required to maintain the same purchasing power. Will your surviving spouse continue (or begin) to work? How much can they earn relative to the lifestyle you want them to have? Are there dependent children? College? Don't forget your surviving spouse will probably want to retire at some point...will there be resources for that?

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. Each family will weigh and balance these and other issues based on their circumstances, goals and objectives. As it should be! That is why listening to what everyone else thinks (or does) may be interesting, but it really doesn't help YOU in determining what YOU and YOUR FAMILY want to achieve.

Finally, I will trot out the very old clich? here because it fits..."people don't plan to fail, they fail to plan". Just remember one more thing when planning - garbage in, garbage out!
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  #10  
Old 06-15-2010, 03:22 PM
dreamtime dreamtime is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Dimas, CA
Posts: 44
Default My List

Really sorry to hear about the accident -- any accident. Good reminder to keep our business in order though. Here's my list:

I keep a comprehensive list of all checking and savings accounts, loans, retirement accounts, and insurance policies with numbers and contact info -- wife and kids (adults) know where this information is kept.

Updated wills on file with our lawyer (on the list).

Short-term savings account -- enough to cover six months of "must pay" bills to buy time in case something bad happens

Disability insurance to cover loss of my income

Mixture of life insurance policies to allow my wife to stay in our home and have a reasonable lifestyle if something happens to me -- probably not quite enough, but sufficient -- I checked to be sure there were no aviation riders when I bought the policies -- wasn't hard to find good policies at decent rates
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