The fact that you are an association member shows the insurance companies that you have access to more information that can keep you and your airplane safer than average.
You can go out and buy any airplane you want. Heck, you don't even need a pilot's certificate to do that. With a fresh private pilot certificate, however, you'll probably find it easy and affordable to insure yourself in an airplane that is similar to the airplane you learned to fly in. Most insurance companies will only require that you have 25 hours in the make and model of aircraft you want to be insured in. If you learned to fly in a Cessna 172, then you already have the 25 hours the insurance company requires. If you're transitioning from a Cessna to a Piper, or, say, to a Grumman, you may have to find an instructor at your flight school to give you transition dual instruction before the company will insure you.
If you learned to fly in a less common airplane, such as one of the new Zenith CH2000 trainers, you may find yourself paying a premium for insurance only because the airplane is new to the general aviation fleet. Flight school owner Doug Keen did. "The CH2000 costs about $800 more to insure than a similarly valued Cessna 152," he says. That hurts, but he still loves his new trainers. Without an actuarial table on an aircraft type, insurance companies feel naked. Until the aircraft has flown for a number of years and fleshes out its actuarial "safety record," insurers tend to pad their rates to cover that nakedness.
Some pilots, however, want to jump right into a high-performance, complex airplane. Without an instrument rating and without some logged flight instruction in the make and model, the scene at the insurance broker's office may play out differently. Once you explain that you haven't got any time in the particular make, model, and type of aircraft you've purchased - the broker sighs. "Without flight experience in that type, make, and model of aircraft, you'll need training."
"No problem," you reply cheerfully. "I've got a great relationship with my CFI."
This elicits another long exhalation. "Does he have type-specific experience?" the broker asks patiently. "Does he participate in the FAA Pilot Proficiency Award (Wings) Program?"
For the sake of argument, let's say he doesn't. Odds are, your instructor can't give you the kind of training the insurance company wants. In fact, many insurance agencies today request that pilots participate in "brand-name" training programs, such as those offered by FlightSafety International, Simcom, and SimuFlite Training International, in order to insure them at reasonable rates in certain aircraft types.
This scene plays out often enough that manufacturers such as Mooney Aircraft include FlightSafety's Mooney type orientation course in the purchase price of their new aircraft. Other manufacturers, including Piper Aircraft and Maule Aircraft have factory associated flight training centers to help new owners gain enough experience in their aircraft to qualify for affordable insurance coverage. "Dave Woods and I put together the program for new Mooneys when the factory sold direct," says Jon Doolittle Jr., now president of Sutton James Insurance, an insurance brokerage company in Hartford, Connecticut.
"We find ourselves routinely searching out insurance for our clients who are transitioning from different types of aircraft, especially high-performance singles and light twins. From an underwriter's standpoint, a brand-name school gives us an indication of the quality of the training our insured will get," Doolittle says.
He's the first to admit that the numbers are too small to prove that pilots trained at brand-name schools have a better safety record than those trained at local flight schools and FBOs. "I believe that a good instructor with experience in the make and model of aircraft my client has purchased can probably do as good a job with transition training as any brand-name school. But these days the insurance industry is getting smaller. It's getting harder to write high liability limits ($3 million or more), and without certain experience and training requirements, it's getting hard for some pilots to get insurance at all at a reasonable price," he says.
The kind of training the insurance companies want to see in high-performance, complex aircraft includes extensive ground briefings on the aircraft's systems, including details on hydraulics, electrics, and, especially, fuel. They like to see a syllabus that includes not just the pilot operating handbook but a pilot workbook and poster-sized diagrams and schematics. If your new bird can fly high and fast, high-altitude training must be part of the package. Above all, insurance companies want you to learn all this from an expert.
So how do you beat the insurance companies at their own game? Do the same thing you've done with your health insurance and get in on a group policy. In short: associate yourself. Even before you purchase your airplane you can join the likes of the Cessna Pilots Association (800/852-2272), American Bonanza Society (316/945-1700), or the Mooney Aircraft Pilots Association (210/525-8008). Join as soon as you've settled on the type of airplane you're shopping for and you'll begin reaping member benefits that may save you many headaches (not to mention cash) down the road.
If you join before your big purchase you can peek at the association's buyer's guide. The Cessna Pilots Association's type-specific buyer's guides go into details that only mechanics who've spent years immersed in the airplanes might know. But even if you hold out on spending the average $40 a year on membership dues until after you've purchased your bird, the price is worth it.
"Our group aircraft insurance plan is considered by many to be a major advantage of membership," says John Frank, CPA's executive director, editor of the Cessna Pilots Association magazine, and overseer of its group insurance program. "As a group of 1,400 aircraft owners, we can negotiate and earn our members the advantages of broader coverage, as well as some flexibility in rates. A number of our members have told me they saved more than the price of their membership on insurance alone."
Frank is quick to point out, however, that the real benefit of membership in his organization isn't the insurance break, but rather the networking of information about the airplanes that takes place through the CPA's extensive library, monthly magazine, Web site, and owner/pilot training programs.
"Our type-specific training programs qualify as 'brand-name' to the insurance companies we do business with," says Frank. The prices on the course, which mostly take three days, are right, too, running from $300 to $400. (You guessed it - join the association at a course and you'll save the cost of membership off the top of the course fees.)
CPA isn't the only group with such programs. John Allen of Falcon Insurance in Austin, Texas, administers programs for the American Bonanza Society, CPA, and the Mooney Aircraft Pilots Association as well. He gets right to the point. "Most insurance companies want to see evidence of the pilot's transition training before they'll even write insurance for him. Programs such as the Bonanza Pilot Proficiency Program or CPA's training seminars have a syllabus, known structure, and known instructor qualifications. If you do your training with them, or with another brand-name school recommended by your broker or agent, you open yourself up to more agents who can write the account, you may lower your rates, and you will certainly affect the types of insurance liability limits that will be available to you."
Just the fact that you are an association member shows the insurance companies that you have access to more information that can keep both you, the pilot, and your airplane, safer than average. The companies know that you are informed about any service difficulties your airplane type might encounter, and the fixes, in a timely manner. They know you have telephone and e-mail access to experts on your aircraft. And these companies see you, with your knowledge and access to information, as a good risk. Makes sense, doesn't it?
Even if the airplane you plan to buy isn't one of the types listed above there is probably an association that offers you similar benefits. Take the time to look for links on the big association Web sites such as Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (www. aopa.org) or the Experimental Aircraft Association (www.eaa.org). Pick up some aviation magazines or ask other owners. The association membership benefits, plus the likelihood of discounted name-brand training and preferred insurance rates or coverage, are some of the best deals a new aircraft owner is likely to encounter. You'll find out fast that in the world of aircraft ownership, bargains don't come along everyday. My advice to you - snap this one up.
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