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Subject: Insurance
Date:  Mon, 18 Mar 2002 08:44:01 -0800
Message-ID: <5458ED2469307644B8BA64EDE0FD44175383AA@PDX-MX1.stoel.com>
Thread-Topic: Insurance
Thread-Index: AcHOnBqlJOmx9zqKEdaJzwAQS/k/NQ==
From: "Halle, John" <JJHALLE@stoel.com>
To: <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Cc: <lancen@lancair.com>
Reply-To: lancair.list@olsusa.com

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          <<  Lancair Builders' Mail List  >>
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Thanks to Heidie and the Lancair people for putting together the list of
agents.  For those who are moved to take comfort in the length of the
list, you should be aware that there is not an underwriter (the folks
that put money at risk) on the list.  The list is simply people who will
contact underwriters on your behalf to try to get insurance for you.  If
there are no underwriters willing to write coverage, they will be
unsuccessful.

As best I can tell, there are somewhere between three and seven
underwriters willing to CONSIDER writing insuarance for high-performance
homebuilts (which does not mean that there are any willing to insure you
flying your aircraft.)  As you all know by now, the list was recently
reduced by one.  We can try to take comfort in stories about how
wooden-headed insurance people are (my personal favorite is the life
insurance company that had no problem with my weekly paragliding trips
but made me promise to give up my yearly resort-led scuba dive) but the
stories will not increase the availability or reduce the cost of
insurance for our aircraft.

Underwriting decisions are driven by statistics and the statistics that
the insurance companies (all of them, not just AVEMCO) look at are not
kind to homebuilts.  I don't know a single lancair/glassair/other owner
that doesn't have a detailed explanation for why he and his aircraft
don't belong in the risk category that includes the recent losses but
insurance is, by definition, a process of sharing risk with folks that
it is comforting to think of as dumber than you are.

What can we do?  We can work together to present to the insurance
industry statistics that justify their underwriting our aircraft.  Since
the category "high performance homebuilt" has unfavorable statistics, we
need to create a subset of that category that we can plausably claim is
safer than the average.  This will involve the participation of aircraft
owners, builders associations and kit companies, hopefully working
together.  It will involve additional expense, additional hassle,
additional time etc.  It probably means the creation of a group that
voluntarily subjects itself and its aircraft to standards that
substantially exceed the minimum standards required by law or current
insurance minimum standards.  (Yes, I know the foregoing statement is
heretical.)  It may also have the collateral benefit of reducing
accidents and saving lives.

On the assumption that we have had enough time to agree that insurance
company executives are all imbeciles and this is all their fault,
perhaps we could get a discussion going with all interested
constituencies about what we can do about it.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
LML website:   http://members.olsusa.com/mkaye/maillist.html
LML Builders' Bookstore:   http://www.buildersbooks.com/lancair
Please remember that purchases from the Builders' Bookstore
assist with the management of the LML.

Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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