Quote:
|
Originally Posted by briand
I'm confused. The damage was to someone else's airplane? The PIC/CFI should be 100% liable. IMHO. But I guess if the owner is coming at you and your insurance co. is willing to pay then I would settle. You probably already got all the negative points as mentioned above, it doesn't really matter if its 5K or 10K.
|
There's a lesson here for RV'ers who are getting CFI training in their RV or training in someone else's RV or plane. The above sounds like a FBO rental situation, lease back plane? There are gotchas for the RV builder/pilot/owner.
If the CFI has no insurance, than lots of luck getting any money for them. You can always sue someone but that cost money.
If you do get a CFI to fly in your RV, make sure the CFI has time in make/model. Only twin engine airplanes require the CFI to have 5 hours in make/model before giving dual, per the FAR's.
Regardless if you hire a CFI to fly your plane, or teach you in another plane make sure either:
Your insurance will cover this dual and the instructor
Instructor carries their own appropriate insurance
I am a CFI with lots of RV time. I would like to instruct RV transition, tail dragger transition and RV currency. Clearly instructing is not a money maker type deal unless you charge crazy rates. When you see $100/hr for private lessons in a RV, that is not too crazy. If your car mechanic gets $65-$85/hr to turn a wrench. What should a pilot instructor get when they have to carry thousands in insurance and be liable for an expensive plane and your life?
Teaching in my RV tail dragger makes the most the sense, in terms of demand as a "product". That is what people want and need. They need to fly a RV before they fly theirs. Getting time in make/model for insurance or a tail dragger checkout is a good thing. The catch 22 is insuring the instruction and initial flight experience of new RV pilots. Some insurance companies will just not insure first flight or phase I or charge ridiculous rates. Now if someone needs "A" model time I can't help them.
If I use my own plane, of course I'd have to allow folks to abuse my baby and carry the extra insurance. Unlike Van's factory check pilots use a factory plane, it would be my personally owned and maintained plane. Also I would have to insure the heck out of it.
The extra "instruction" insurance cost is say about $1,500-$2,000 a year. That is on-top of the typical $1,500-$1,700 insurance for the plane used only for private use. If I give 50-100 hours of part time instruction in my plane, that's about $30 an hour to just pay for the insurance. Now add time and expense..... I can't assume the student will pay me my loss of the do something bad and I don't catch it. Even little damage like stepping on the flaps is a liability.
Could I instruct in the builder/owner/pilot in their RV. There is less demand, because you can't give dual in Phase I. Also I don't want to get into doing first flights. The likely scenario would be if someone bought a used RV and needed a check out. I could carry my own insurance to cover me which is just as expensive as plane insurance. How many of these check outs a year would I do to pay for the insurance?
One way to go is adding the CFI to the planes insurance policy by name. I did that with a little group that owned a C-182. I did check outs, comp checks, flt reviews and new member check out / time in type building. Insurance companies are not over joyed about the idea of a RV pilot/owner adding a CFI to their policy. I looked into it. Their response was it can be done, but they rather not. They think the CFI (me) should get their own insurance. Of course why not have the CFI carry their own insurance, it lowers their liability. If you are using a CFI to teach you than you may want to look into adding the CFI to your insurance, especially if they don't have their own liability insurance.
Another wrinkle, some airports actually require any instructor teaching out of an airport or in an airplane based there to have a bond or insurance at that airport. It is kind of hard to enforce, but a local airport authority can shut it down, at least until the CFI gets a multi million dollar plus bond that names the airport. I would ask the airport authorities. You should know.
Now lets say an accident happens with a CFI and a RV is bent, who's to blame? Every case is different, but it is all about money. Don't make any assumptions about PIC and who is financially liable, they are two different things. The FAA does no legislate insurance or who pays to fix a bent plane.
Some times just a conversation is needed before the flight. May be even a piece of paper with some signatures that says who is responsible for damages or liability. It may or may not hold up in court, but it is better than just kicking the tires & lighting the fire and saying, "I thought you where flying the plane!", after the accident.
If you own the airplane and the CFI is not insured you are probably going to bite it, regardless of who was PIC or flying. Good luck getting the money out of the CFI. (The case above involves a FBO I think. That is a different dynamic; I'm talking about private planes w/ private instructors.)
Sadly that is why I'm not teaching in RV's, unreasonable insurance rates for instructing. As a casual thing its not cost effective and financially too risky for me. Getting RV dual in some parts of the country is almost impossible for folks. Finding a CFI for experimentals is more difficult than it need be. The insurance companies don't make it easier. As it is now you have to live near or drive or fly part cross country to get to one of the transition instructors. At least there are some.
"Dear Doug" Anonymous Insurance Question
Linear Mode
