Winter 2004

CHANGES TO EU LIABILITY LIMITS
Significant change in the minimum liability limits requirements in the EU that will affect PC12 operators planning to return to the factory in Stans this summer. The big issue in these changes not only has to do with the overall liability limit operators must purchase, but also with the War Risk Liability Limit that is purchased. Current War Risk Liability Limit required limit in Germany, Austria, Italy, and Poland 60 MM Euros. All other EU countries will accept the current aviation insurance market standard of US$50MM War Liability Limit.

As of April 2005, these limits will be increased for all EU Countries based on the Maximum Take off Weight (MGTOW) of the aircraft to be operated. With a MTOW of 9925 you will be required to carry a minimum third party liability limit of $10,281,000 to include war risk liability.

In addition to the Third Party Limits, there are now minimum per passenger liability requirements, as well as requirements for baggage and cargo liability limits.

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to ask. Click the email link below to contact us.

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Fall 2004

The insurance presentation at POPA 2004 was well received by those in attendance at Colorado Springs. From post presentation individual comments and quote request responses I am now receiving, it appears that you are listing, and willing to work toward a common goal of insurability. Additionally after the meeting Pilatus Business Aircraft invited me to make a similar presentation at their 10 year PC12 celebration sales meeting in Stans Switzerland, this turned out to be quite a treat to visit the factory and experience all that Pilatus has to offer not to mention the beautiful Swiss Country side that I am sure exist as our visit was shrouded in rain and snow for most of the visit. A return trip for sight seeing is now in order!!

Now back home I continue to work with the insurers who can provide more comprehensive coverages for POPA PC12 owner operators who collectively enjoy the best safety record in the industry. POPA’s safety record is contrary to past and current underwriting philosophies that owner flow turbines are an accident waiting to happen, as the statistics demonstrate. This old school thinking combined with high valued aircraft hulls has always driven the market pricing above similar turboprop aircraft. Implementation of the PC12 opps manual, close adherence to its content combined with stringent training intervals should continue to change conventional underwriting wisdoms. Going forth I hope to see overall reductions in premium and availability of higher limits of legal liability, barring any string of owner flown losses.

Consider that there are currently 264 PC12 aircraft now operating in the US, of these 150 are truly owner flown, the remainder of flying units is comprised of Industrial Aid Aircraft (pro flown transporting executives) and commercially operated Air taxi operations. A sampling of losses now clearly indicates that the owner flown segment of all operations has a near nil loss experience whereas the pro flown population leads the way in overall losses to both physical damage to aircraft hulls and bodily injury to crews and passengers. There have been no losses to third party persons on the ground to date as a result of a PC12 operation.

A study of all accidents and incident involving the PC-12 reveals no trends, similarities, or operational modes in common. Most events occurred with commercial or ATP rated pilot with greater than 5000 hours. The following table summarizes the varied nature of the events:

The distribution of accident and incidents (of a lower damage or injury threshold that the NTSB requirements), shows a fairly random spectrum of events, with hard landings and ground taxi collisions as the leading causes.

Focusing only on NTSB qualifying accidents, the causes are apparently unrelated to systems, operations, or pilot experience.

The median total experience for the PIC’s involved exceeded 5000 hours. This is considered an experienced, seasoned pilot. The majority of pilots involved were ATP rated. From this data, experience and ratings do not appear to be a factor in PC-12 incidents. Therefore it is only reasonable for underwriters to factor owner flown exposures at the same or lower end of the risk scale based on these statistics.

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