AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2020 - 24

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT

BY RICHARD MCSPADDEN
Executive Director
AOPA Air Safety Institute

Costly mistakes
Common mishaps that drive insurance rates higher

AOPA Air Safety
Institute Executive
Director RICHARD
MCSPADDEN

is a CFII and MEI,
and has logged
more than 1,000
hours of dual
instruction given.

24 | AOPA PILOT June 2020

WE PILOTS can do more to lower aircraft insurance
rates-a lot more-and we could do it without a major
overhaul to how we operate. We just need more focus,
more consistently. Those were my big takeaways from
spending time with insurance carriers earlier this year,
working to understand recent rate hikes.
To be sure, insurance rates are complex and involve
some dynamics beyond the control of most GA pilots, and
there are some age-related trends that AOPA is working
to understand. Tom Haines recently wrote about some
of those dynamics (aopa.org/pilot/insurance2020). But
I want to come at the issue from a different angle. Author
Stephen Covey wrote about the "circle of influence."
What can we GA pilots do within our circle of influence
to positively affect the insurance issue?
NTSB accident reports and trends help us to
understand the most serious accidents, but insurers
cover incidents well outside of NTSB purview. In fact,
most aircraft incidents resulting in insurance claims
do not have to be reported to the NTSB. The dynamics
of the business side of insurance surprised me. To be
clear, I didn't conduct a scientific study. These observations are from conversations with and some limited
data sharing from insurance companies.
Not surprisingly, our most expensive accidents, as
measured by insurance payouts per accident, are controlled flight into terrain and crashes on approach.
In-flight breakup and weather-related crashes are also
among the most expensive per incident. These claims
typically include complete payout for hull coverage,
and liability and loss of life payments. However, they
are not the most costly to insurance carriers because,
thankfully, they are infrequent. The most costly accidents are less expensive per event, but their volume
creates more drag on the profit and loss statement.
Our most costly problem in GA is gear-up landings
and gear collapses, although their cost per incident,
$70,000, is lower than the more catastrophic accidents.
Gear-ups are a hidden issue in GA accident statistics.
These almost never meet NTSB reporting criteria, so
the only way to get a true feel for the actual number
is to review insurance claims. Gear-up landings are
the second most-claimed incident. The overwhelming
number of gear-up landings are inadvertent, meaning
that through distraction or some other complicating
issue, the pilot forgot to extend the gear. The cause

behind gear collapses is more difficult to discern, but a
significant problem is pilots mismanaging the landing
gear handle while on the ground, such as after maintenance procedures, or mistakenly grabbing the gear
handle instead of the flaps lever or some other knob.
Our second most costly item to insurers is loss of
directional control on the ground, including ground
loops. Although taildraggers are a strong contributor to
overall insurance payouts in this category, the issue is not
exclusive to taildraggers. We lose control on the ground
in nosewheel airplanes at a surprising rate.
Hard landings rank third. Ranking fourth in overall cost to insurers, but first in number of incidents, is
prop strikes, topping some $30,000 per occurrence.
Cranking with tow bars attached; taxiing into berms,
fire extinguishers, hangars, automobiles, other aircraft:
We're creative in the items we find to strike with our
propellers. A prop strike almost always generates a
complete engine teardown and rebuild.
It surprised me that dramatic fatal accidents and
liability aren't the costs dragging down P&Ls and contributing to rate hikes. It's hull coverage, much of which can
be reduced by more focus in the cockpit in three ways:
1. Committing to establishing and reinforcing our
personal procedures to make sure the gear is down, most
importantly in times of distraction. The notion that there
are "those who have and those who will" is fundamentally
wrong and statistically inaccurate. Worse, it communicates a defeatist attitude that has no place in aviation.
2. Pledging not to perform cockpit tasks while taxiing. None. Do them before leaving the chocks, at the
end of the runway, or after exiting the runway. Come to
a complete stop, perform needed checks, and then taxi.
3. Landing on speed. Excessive speed is frequently
the catalyst for ground loops and loss of control on the
runway. We often get away with being a few knots fast,
but if we normalize the deviance, it is likely to bite us
one day. Be exactly on speed over the threshold.
We're in what industry experts call a "tight" insurance market. If history repeats, in a few years the
market will soften. Until then, we can focus on our
circle of influence and reduce aircraft damage claims
through greater focus in the cockpit.
Go fly. With focus.
AOPA
EMAIL richard.mcspadden@aopa.org

http://www.aopa.org/pilot/insurance2020

AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2020

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