In article ,
Ian Cant wrote:

What is the liability insurance all about ? I thought
it was things like crop damage, damaging vehicles or
buildings, hitting innocent bystanders - either relatively
inexpensive or relatively infrequent claims. But if
it is being abused as a substitute for carrying life
insurance, then that's a whole new bucket of snakes.

Ian

the worst case was a landowner who collected daily use fees, a
certificated but dangerous & indigent instructor, the weather turned,
the student crashed and died. the instructor had no assets to attach,
so the heirs (appropriately) turned to the certificating organization
(USHGA) and (inappropriately) to the landowner. laws have now been
changed to deny liability for landowners provided they allow access for
free; only if they charge, do they have liability. still USHGA is on
the hook for the instructors and commercial pilots, the people most
likely to be sued. with all students and ride passengers signing the
waiver, the organization is theoretically in the clear.

in a nutshell, the liability insurance protects the landowners from
lawsuits due to injuries sustained when they allow HG/PG to occur on
their property.

in other sports like scuba, even though an international organization
certificates the instructors, the instructors provide their own
liability insurance. you can imagine the liability if a scuba
instructor tossed a student into the ocean w/o making sure their air was
on.

Ken