Insuring a Letter of Authorization for RV Training

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

When I got my RV-9A recently, I was unable to find anybody who gave RV-9A training, and I know from experience that the short wing RVs do not fly like the -9A. After making sure that I could land the plane well, I decided to check myself out, just like glider pilots do in single seaters. (I've got roughly 450 hours in short wing RVs).

So now that I'm getting comfortable in the -9A, the question is, why don't I dust off my CFI and give checkouts in my -9A? The answer is insurance -- I was given an off the cuff estimate that my insurance would triple to about three grand if I were to give checkouts.

So unless I were somehow to give a whole lot of dual, I'd be paying maybe $100 / hour for insurance, plus what I needed to charge for airplane, gas, and my own time.

Hmmm...

[Ironflight]

That has been the sticking point for the whole transition training/LODA thing for years Ed. Originally, the FSDO's didn't have a clue how to do the LODA, but once many of them were educated on the process, there were still few who got them- because insurance made it stupidly prohibitive. Until we crack that nut, we're going to be stuck on the whole transition training process.

A few brave individuals are doing it, and they should be saluted, but it gets left to factory programs, where the incremental cost of insurance is less noticeable to the bottom line.

[vic syracuse]

I get requests all the time for transition training, but the insurance is prohibitive. You would think that the insurance companies would be willing to invest in a few of us just to prevent some of the inevitable losses that are occurring.

Vic

[pierre smith]

Ssshhh... you can do it with your present insurance but you have the risk of not being covered for damage.

I charged $200/hour in my -6A and over a five year period, had around 75-80 students.

I have done some in my -10 but you can't let them get too deep into a dicey situation.

Best,

[dmaib]

I offered RV-10 Transition Training from Nov. of 2010 to Nov. of 2014. Initially I kept busy enough to justify the insurance. But, business began to fall off in late 2013 and 2014, so I elected not to renew the insurance. It added about $1300 to my annual insurance if I recall correctly. I won't do it without insurance for the reason Pierre mentioned. The liability issue is the 800 lb gorilla for me, not the hull coverage. I really enjoyed doing it and met some wonderful people along the way. I still have my LODA, so could start up again if I wanted to do so. However, unless the insurance issue can be resolved, I doubt that I will.
I can tell you that my expenses for tires and brakes are CONSIDERABLY reduced!

[BobTurner]

Same here. For a while I was able to add "students' to my policy as named insured for about $400 each (okay for local people) but my current insurer won't do that, so I too am on hold...