Welcome, Commercial Drone Pilots!
Join our growing community today!
Sign up

The Great Insurance Information Thread of 2018!

R Martin said:
I know you already know this but the big number is 24 hours for accident reporting to the NTSB if you meet their requirements which I will expand upon after I stuff my face...
Click to expand...

Yep that's been drilled in from years in "aviation".
 
What are the typical deductibles on a UAV insurance policy provided by an aviation insurance company?

In aviation insurance, deductibles typically do not apply to liability only policies. So, if you have a liability only commercial UAV insurance policy, you will most likely not have a deductible. This holds true for most policies issued by reputable aviation insurance companies. But, as always, read your policy!

However, if you elect to purchase hull coverage, payload coverage, or any other type of physical damage coverage for your equipment, you should expect to have some sort of deductible. The deductibles usually range from 5% to 10% of the insured value of the equipment. However, if you are doing something out of the ordinary with your UAV, the insurance company may place a higher deductible on your policy.

Sincerely,

Joe Ernster
Bullock Agency, Inc.
[email protected]
Get an Online Commercial UAS Insurance Quote Now!
 
Hello,

Do you have something out of the ordinary that you would like to insure related to UAVs? If so, let you broker know what you would like to do in full detail. Due to the highly negotiable nature of aviation insurance, and the rapidly evolving UAV industry, you may be able to get coverage for your "crazy" idea. Many times, aviation insurance companies are willing to cover something that you would think is un-insurable.

An example of this is a drone light show. In early 2017 I met a gentleman who was doing a drone light show. At the time, only him and Intel were allowed by the FAA to do the shows. He could not find insurance. The insurance companies I work with did not have a policy to cover that type of operation yet. So, I got him on a call with one of the executives at an aviation insurance company. We discussed the details of the operation at length and negotiated a plan specifically for his business. Shortly after the call, a quote for the light show was emailed to me by the insurance company and my client was off to the races.

A drone light show seems relatively common place now (my client is getting requested for more shows than he has time to fly). However, I am seeing groundbreaking new uses for drones every single day. Your wild idea could turn out to be a game-changer with the help of a good insurance plan.

Sincerely,

Joe Ernster
Bullock Agency, Inc.
[email protected]
Get an Online Commercial UAS Insurance Quote Now!
 
What if I am a UAV dealer or manufacturer? How can I protect myself and my business, Joe?

Another great question. You can purchase what is called "Aviation Products and Completed Operations" coverage. This coverage will protect you and your business in the event of a property damage or bodily injury claim against you that is associated with a UAV that you manufactured, sold, or serviced in the past. This is an invaluable coverage for anyone involved in UAV sales, service, or manufacturing. If you sold a UAV to a production company that subsequently had an large accident, not only would the production company be named in a claim, so would the manufacturer, distributor, repair company, and their mothers. As soon as attorneys get involved, anyone who looked at or handled the UAV in the past is a potential target.

Thanks,

Joe Ernster
Bullock Agency, Inc.
[email protected]
Get an Online Commercial UAS Insurance Quote Now!
 
One of the lowest points in a UAS pilot's career is a crash. Whenever I get a call or email from one of my insureds after a crash they are usually embarrassed (this goes for manned pilots as well!). However, insurance claims always involve more than a bruised ego (that is why they are claims!). The fist question I ask them is "were there any injuries"? If there were not any injuries, I reassure them that there is nothing to be embarrassed about and the claim process will be easy. Naturally, the next question from the pilot is always "how long will the claim process take"? While the process usually progresses very quickly compared to manned aircraft, homeowner's, or auto insurance, there are some things that may cause delays. If there are no injuries, one of the first things you should do is take pictures of the wreck and do anything you can to prevent further damage to the UAV. After that, contact your broker and/or insurance company ASAP (there is always claims contact information on your policy). At this point, having all of the information about the claim and your policy at hand will greatly assist the adjuster in getting the ball rolling on your claim. To help in expediting the processing of a claim, I have generated the attached document. This document will put all of your information in front of the adjuster and help speed up the processing of your UAS insurance claim. A document like this can simply be sent to the claims contact of your insurance company and help you get back in the air sooner.

Joe Ernster
Bullock Agency, Inc.
[email protected]
Get an Online Commercial UAS Insurance Quote Now!
 

Attachments

  • 2019 Claim Form.pdf
    14.7 KB · Views: 8
  • Like
Reactions: BigAl07
AviationBroker said:
One of the lowest points in a UAS pilot's career is a crash. Whenever I get a call or email from one of my insureds after a crash they are usually embarrassed (this goes for manned pilots as well!). However, insurance claims always involve more than a bruised ego (that is why they are claims!). The fist question I ask them is "were there any injuries"? If there were not any injuries, I reassure them that there is nothing to be embarrassed about and the claim process will be easy. Naturally, the next question from the pilot is always "how long will the claim process take"? While the process usually progresses very quickly compared to manned aircraft, homeowner's, or auto insurance, there are some things that may cause delays. If there are no injuries, one of the first things you should do is take pictures of the wreck and do anything you can to prevent further damage to the UAV. After that, contact your broker and/or insurance company ASAP (there is always claims contact information on your policy). At this point, having all of the information about the claim and your policy at hand will greatly assist the adjuster in getting the ball rolling on your claim. To help in expediting the processing of a claim, I have generated the attached document. This document will put all of your information in front of the adjuster and help speed up the processing of your UAS insurance claim. A document like this can simply be sent to the claims contact of your insurance company and help you get back in the air sooner.

Joe Ernster
Bullock Agency, Inc.
[email protected]
Get an Online Commercial UAS Insurance Quote Now!
Click to expand...

Thanks Joe, I have the document saved should I ever need it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigAl07
AviationBroker said:
Hello,

My name is Joe Ernster and I am an aviation insurance broker at Bullock Agency, Inc. I have insured manned risks since January of 2011 and unmanned risks since 2015. Since I began insuring unmanned operations, I have added 300+ commercial UAS customers to my books. My clients run the gamut from single pilots with a single "prosumer" UAV to teams of pilots operating fleets very sophisticated UAS. The uses of these aircraft include agriculture, real estate, construction, fire fighting, movie/TV production, marketing, events, LiDar, mapping, inspection, law enforcement, wildlife conservation, news gathering, instruction/training, research and development, security surveillance, oil/gas support, drone light shows, and even the military (I am sure I am forgetting some uses).

We are appointed with all of the best aviation insurance companies out there. We work with AIG Aerospace, Old Republic Aerospace, Allianz, Global Aerospace, QBE, USSIC, USAIG, LAU, and XL. Of the 300+ unmanned risks I Insure, I would say that 240+ are with Global Aerospace.

I will make relevant posts on this thread as often as possible. The purpose of the posts will be to educate the community on many general and specific concepts in the UAS insurance industry.

This first post will focus on very general concepts in UAS insurance. I have provided links below to various content that I have created, or assisted in creating, from around the web. Topics include - liability, hull, payload, non-owned liability, non-owned hull, non-owned payload, personal injury, and ground equipment coverage. I have provided links below covering these topics. I will address more "advanced" topics in UAS insurance in subsequent posts.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I am here to help.

Drone U Podcast Interview

Drone Insurance for Commercial Operations: Demystifying Your Coverage Options - This is a condensed version of the article that appeared in RotorDrone Magazine.

How to Insure a UAV - Washington State Unmanned Aviation Technology Coalition
UAV Coach Content - A Step-by-Step Guide to Liability and Drone Hull Insurance - I contributed only part of this content.

Done Insurance 101 Facebook Group

How to Insure a UAV - Center of Excellence Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing - This content is very similar to the Washington State Unmanned Aviation Technology Coalition whitepaper above.

Do you think that you have learned enough to request a commercial UAV insurance quote? If so, please follow the link below in order to request a free quote. Most commercial operators can request, receive, bind, and pay for the quote within 10-15 minutes.

Get a Free Commercial UAS Insurance Quote Now!

Thank you very much for reading!

Stay tuned!

Sincerely,

Joe Ernster
[email protected]
Click to expand...
I just passed my initial 107 test Friday, and am in the process of finalizing the registration process online with the FAA.
I'm looking to do some real estate work, and maybe some inspection work if the opportunity presents itself.
I have an Autel EVO valued I bought last October for $1100 (it included an extra battery, props, memory card, and travel bag).
From reading the articles you provided, obviously liability insurance is a must. What would you recommend for an amount?
And what about replacement of the aircraft itself (is that what is considered hull)?

Thank you for your time and help!
 
Spappy said:
I just passed my initial 107 test Friday, and am in the process of finalizing the registration process online with the FAA.
I'm looking to do some real estate work, and maybe some inspection work if the opportunity presents itself.
I have an Autel EVO valued I bought last October for $1100 (it included an extra battery, props, memory card, and travel bag).
From reading the articles you provided, obviously liability insurance is a must. What would you recommend for an amount?
And what about replacement of the aircraft itself (is that what is considered hull)?

Thank you for your time and help!
Click to expand...


I'll add my 2 cents:

Hull is the AIRCRAFT and Payload (camera). You insure the HULL for replacement value of the aircraft and camera (whatever can be destroyed in an incident).

As for how much liability.... that depends on your clients. I would suggest a min of $1M and when you get more experience and start flying higher risk jobs you might need to increase it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PatR, Outta Control and Spappy
I'd like to expand on Hull coverage a little as many get wrapped up in assuring a relatively inexpensive drone will be replaced after an accident. Hull coverage adds quite a bit to the cost of a policy and for those that aren't yet generating a lot of revenue when using equipment with a total cost under $4,000.00 or more may find the expense of adding Hull coverage more than they can bearor justify. For less expensive equipment it's often the better course just to accept the loss and buy another out of pocket while knowing you are covered on the liability side.

Liability insurance isn't about protecting us from the expense of losing an aircraft or payload, it's about protecting ourselves from the cost involved with settling claims by others from injury or damage induced by our aircraft or actions. A small pocket drone has the ability to generate a tremendous amount of $$ damage in some endeavors. Shoot a custom car show and something as small as an Anafi or Mavic can set us back over $10k for a vehicle paint job if the drone runs into a car. Hit a person and the cost goes off the scale in a heartbeat. Hull coverage in such a situation is of little concern as we can replace them at little cost, and the cot of hull coverage is such that if we don't have any hull/payload losses over the course of two years or less we'll have saved enough in insurance costs to pay for another anyway.

For those that compare the cost of liability insurance against the cost of a drone or the amount of revenue they are, or are not generating with a drone to determine if they need or want to carry insurance will be looking at things the wrong way. Insurance is not about a comparative drone value or income revenue against the cost of insurance, it's about protecting the rest of our assets from loss in the event something goes wrong, and having someone there that specializes in protecting their clients available at all times. It does not matter if what goes wrong is our fault, the client's fault, or the drone manufacturer's fault, if anyone but the owner of the drone experiences a loss they will be looking to be compensated for their loss, and they can be mighty creative in establishing the value of their loss.

If you're operating commercially insurance is mandatory. If you're operating recreationally you need insurance any time you're operating in an environment your drone has a potential to make contact or interfere with a person, vehicle, or structure, or cause any level of damage to private or public property. The only variable in the equation is the cost and amount of coverage.
 
@PatR - While I know that your post is a few months old, I just wanted to say that I 100% agree with your assessment. Liability coverage is by far the most important aspect of a insurance policy. Like you mentioned, with hull coverage, the max amount you can lose is the value of the UAV. However, once you injure someone or damage their property, the costs can add up rapidly. Also, not only do you have to be concerned with the actual damages awarded in a lawsuit, but also the cost of your defense. Even if a lawsuit against you is completely without merit, you will still need to end up hiring an attorney, which, as we all know, can be very expensive. Most of the UAV policies out there will pay the cost of your legal defense in the event of a liability claim.

Being an aviation insurance broker, I may be a bit "paranoid" when it comes to liability insurance. However, having seeing what I have seen in this sphere, I always try to buy the highest limits of liability I can afford without breaking the bank. One of my clients is involved in an almost year long litigation where the insurance company has anticipated paying out about $1M when all is said and done. Everyone is looking for a payday and you never know who's uncle, brother, wife, aunt, or husband is an attorney with time on their hands.

@PatR - Again, you have a great point that I believe cannot be emphasized enough. All of you commercial operators are blazing a trail in a relatively new industry that is a target for litigious people looking for a payout. Or, a hotshot attorney aiming to make a name for himself litigating UAS suits.

Joe Ernster
Bullock Agency, Inc.
[email protected]
Get an Online Commercial UAS Insurance Quote Now!
 
  • Like
Reactions: SanCap and BigAl07

New Posts

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 57 (members: 0, guests: 57)

Forum statistics

Threads
4,287
Messages
37,641
Members
5,982
Latest member
Shook DroneWorks LLC