Insurance discount for Flarm?

We had two fatalities due to a mid-air in British Columbia last year.

Correction ... in 2011.

Glider insurance companies in America need to wake up and get real.

10,000 hours of flight time in powered aircraft won't even get you a penny less on your premiums!

A private glider pilot with 100 hours of total time in gliders pays the same insurance as a 40,000 hour power pilot who has 100 hours in gliders.

FLARM should give a big discount. I used one last Saturday on the Seniors practice day and found it to increase safety tremendously.

On Tuesday, March 12, 2013 3:34:17 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Glider insurance companies in America need to wake up and get real. 10,000 hours of flight time in powered aircraft won't even get you a penny less on your premiums! A private glider pilot with 100 hours of total time in gliders pays the same insurance as a 40,000 hour power pilot who has 100 hours in gliders. FLARM should give a big discount. I used one last Saturday on the Seniors practice day and found it to increase safety tremendously.

my guess is their actuarial tables have shown that high time in airplanes does not correlate to increased safety in a glider. my experience as a CFI-G would tend to agree with that.

they are probably waiting to see a statistical correlation to show that FLARM use reduces the risk of a major loss for the insurance company.

I'm a CFI-g also. The FAA gives requirement reductions for power pilots training for a glider add-on, simply because these pilots have a head start. Someone adding on a rating understands weather, maps, aerodynamics, etc. The more a iation experience and knowledge you have in another class or category increase your abilities to avoid accidents. That's why the FAA gives a reduction in training requirements, and omits taking a written test.

It's laughable that an insurance agency won't do the same.

I have seen well experienced power pilots get the feel of a sailplane almost immediately. Never seen a brand new student who has never flown any form of aviation do that. There is a huge difference.


John, that instrument your looking for is called an altimeter!

On Tuesday, March 12, 2013 7:22:13 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I'm a CFI-g also. The FAA gives requirement reductions for power pilots training for a glider add-on, simply because these pilots have a head start. Someone adding on a rating understands weather, maps, aerodynamics, etc. The more a iation experience and knowledge you have in another class or category increase your abilities to avoid accidents. That's why the FAA gives a reduction in training requirements, and omits taking a written test. It's laughable that an insurance agency won't do the same. I have seen well experienced power pilots get the feel of a sailplane almost immediately. Never seen a brand new student who has never flown any form of aviation do that. There is a huge difference. John, that instrument your looking for is called an altimeter!

You are smarter than a 5th grader!
LOL
UH

I went round and round in circles with the insurance company on this matter! Dont get me started! Some car insurance companies give a discount to teenagers who have honor roll grades. Some give discounts to safety equipped cars that have airbags, antilock brakes, daytime running lights, seatbelt warnings, etc. Yet, a glider insurance company won't give one penny less for any worth while reason. If you take advance training and get a CFI-G Costello offers NO DISCOUNT, theyincreased my rates. However, someone I know demolished their $80,000 glider and got a reduction in their insurance rate. How backwards is this??!! I didn't crash, I furthered my aviation education, and I get penalized!!!

Any advancement in an aviators knowledge, or additional safety feature installed, clearly reduces the chance of an accident. It's a crying shame that Costello doesn't have the common sense to recognize this.

On Tuesday, March 12, 2013 9:49:57 PM UTC-5, wrote:
I went round and round in circles with the insurance company on this matter! Dont get me started! Some car insurance companies give a discount to teenagers who have honor roll grades. Some give discounts to safety equipped cars that have airbags, antilock brakes, daytime running lights, seatbelt warnings, etc. Yet, a glider insurance company won't give one penny less for any worth while reason. If you take advance training and get a CFI-G Costello offers NO DISCOUNT, theyincreased my rates. However, someone I know demolished their $80,000 glider and got a reduction in their insurance rate. How backwards is this??!! I didn't crash, I furthered my aviation education, and I get penalized!!!



Any advancement in an aviators knowledge, or additional safety feature installed, clearly reduces the chance of an accident. It's a crying shame that Costello doesn't have the common sense to recognize this.

my experience is that the freshly solo'd student pilots and brand new certificated pilots are usually the safest. high proficiency since all the training is very fresh and usually pretty careful about not getting themselves in tough spots. Its the guy on his first flight since his flight review 23 months ago that is the problem.

and i'm pretty sure Costello offers a discount for having your commercial cert.

While I completely agree with Scott's reasoning, I am afraid that if insurance companies will go by accidents statistics, the high time/commercial/CFIG will pay the highest rates, while low times will get the highest discount.

Ramy

On Tuesday, March 12, 2013 3:34:17 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Glider insurance companies in America need to wake up and get real.

Actually, the vast majority of glider accidents in the US involve unintended contact with the ground. Now if only someone would invent an instrument that would tell the pilot how high up he is, so he would know to become more careful near the ground, that would surely be worth a big insurance discount

BB

On Tuesday, March 12, 2013 1:40:10 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Tuesday, March 12, 2013 3:34:17 PM UTC-5, wrote:

Glider insurance companies in America need to wake up and get real.



Actually, the vast majority of glider accidents in the US involve unintended contact with the ground. Now if only someone would invent an instrument that would tell the pilot how high up he is, so he would know to become more careful near the ground, that would surely be worth a big insurance discount



BB

As someone here once said; "stay in the middle of the sky. don't go near the edges..."