JGalban via AviationKB.com wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote:

Where this becomes an insurance issue is in the litigation the insurance
company instigates after the accident.
It's a classic setup for their trial attorney's.

I suppose anything could be litigated, but if your policy contract doesn't
have an exclusion for (in this case) taking off overweight, the insurance
company doesn't have a leg to stand on.

A flying buddy of mine is an insurance company lawyer and he gets a kick
out of hearing these nebulous "that will invalidate your insurance" stories.
They are very reluctant to refuse claims that are not excluded in the written
contract. Insurance regulators will go after them if they try.

Basically, insurance is there to cover your butt if you do something stupid.
They have limits on what level of stupidity they will cover, which are
spelled out in the exclusions section of the policy. My current policy
doesn't cover me if the plane is out of annual (not operating with a valid
airwothiness cert.), or if I happen to be commiting a crime when the accident
happens. Other than a few other minor exclusions, they've got my potential
stupidity covered. Whether I decide to takeoff overweight or fly VFR into
IMC, I'm confident that the insurance company will hold up its end of the
bargain. As I stated before, if they really did disallow claims for poor
decision making, their policies would be virtually worthless. A vast
percentage of aviation accidents and incidents involve some level of poor
decision making.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

Unless things have changed drastically since I was dealing with
insurance matters vs airplanes, the issue insurance wise isn't poor
decision making but rather operating the aircraft CLEARLY OUTSIDE it's
documented operating limitations. In other words, if you fly over gross,
you are wide open if you have an accident WHILE the aircraft is being
operated over gross, for a potential fight with the insurance carrier.
I believe this is correct. Please feel free to check this out.
I'd be interested to know if this situation has changed.
The question is quite simple;
Is your insurance valid if you knowingly operate the insured aircraft in
violation of existing FAA regulations and the manufacturer's limitations
for gross weight? (Flying over gross without a waiver to do so I believe
meets both these parameters)
--
Dudley Henriques