Protect Yourself and Your Aircraft with $1 Million Liability Coverage
Always ask your aircraft maintenance provider whether they are properly insured, and request proof of such insurance. There are too many aviation mechanics and maintenance facilities that do not have adequate insurance or assets to satisfy a judgment against them. As a result, unknowing victims incur losses and cannot recover from the parties that caused the injury.
Front Range Aircraft Maintenance affords you comprehensive insurance coverage.
- Aircraft Maintenance Shop Insurance – Fixed base operators (FBOs), aircraft fueling operations, and Aircraft Maintenance Shops, require very specialized insurance policies.
- Hangar Keeper’s – Provides liability coverage against damage to aircraft owned by others and in your care, or control (e.g. one of your employees damage an aircraft while moving it out of the facility). *Note that Hangar Keeper’s insurance does not cover aircraft damaged by, for example, a tornado that flattens your hangar and damages customer aircraft stored inside. This damage would be covered by each customer’s own hull insurance because it was not a result of negligence but an “act of God.”
- Premises and Operations – Liability coverage for exposures arising out of an insured’s premises and business operations but not directly related to work performed (e.g., a customer slips on an oily spot in your facility).
- Products /Completed Operations Liability – Completed Operations/Product liability covers the liability for losses or injuries to customer or bystander arising out of a service you provided or product you have sold.
- Building/Contents Insurance – Building and or Contents insurance is exactly what it sounds like; it covers your building in the event of a loss/claim.
- Worker’s Compensation – Worker’s comp covers you in the event that one of your mechanics is injured while on the job.
Q. “What do you mean, my mechanic can’t fly my aircraft?”
All too often, a client will allow a mechanic to test fly his aircraft following maintenance. The belief is that because he is a mechanic he is an approved pilot under the owner’s insurance policy.
A: The fact that the test pilot is your mechanic does not change the policy’s pilot requirements. The same rules apply to the mechanic/test pilots that apply to any other pilot that flies your aircraft.
In order that your policy is not voided, your mechanic/test pilot must meet the “open pilot warranty” of your policy or your underwriter must specifically name him as an approved pilot, as with any other pilot. In addition, the test pilot can expect no protection under your policy unless he is named as an additional insured on your policy and is given a waiver of subrogation on the hull. Because of your mechanic’s professional responsibility, this is an endorsement that is often difficult to convince an underwriter to give.