Private Pilot's Life Insurance

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Edward Cunningham

Filing Flight Plan
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Aug 2, 2022
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CaptEddie
Hello Fellow Avaitors.

I have a question. I am 60 years old, and now that my kids are all grown and out of the house and my business has been sold, I have the time and the money to finally finish my Private Pilot's license. However, my life insurance company (Prudential) had me sign a rider on my 500K life policy I took out several years ago, that said the policy will not pay out if I die while piloting a private general aviation aircraft.

I don't want to leave my wife without a death benefit should the unthinkable happen, so I was wondering if any of you have been faced with a similar problem? Are there Insurance carriers out there that will write a specific policy that ONLY covers you in the cockpit?
 
Sorry. And that's gotta be frustrating.
 
Most life insurance policies have that sort of stipulation. BUT, you can buy (at a premium) a term life policy that includes aviation insurance.

I'm 57, and I think my term life insurance (with aviation coverage) has about 5 more years before needing to be renewed. I probably won't renew it at that time, because I'll be in good enough shape financially there won't be a compelling need for additional life insurance.
 
I would drop your current life after getting a policy from one of the companies that understands pilots, and their risks. I think I am with PIClife. I'm over 60 too.
https://www.piclife.com
 
kyleb said:
Most life insurance policies have that sort of stipulation. BUT, you can buy (at a premium) a term life policy that includes aviation insurance.

I'm 57, and I think my term life insurance (with aviation coverage) has about 5 more years before needing to be renewed. I probably won't renew it at that time, because I'll be in good enough shape financially there won't be a compelling need for additional life insurance.
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Some insurers will cover it, some won't. My regular old insurance agent shopped the different carriers and got me two quotes. I had to complete questionnaires about my flying, and that factored in to the premiums for the two carriers that were willing to write policies. I don't have an IR, but I understand that's one thing that brings the premiums down. My concern was not my wife so much as my kids. They're still at home and I plan to support them till they're out of college. At that point, I wouldn't consider life insurance to be a necessity, especially if retirement planning pans out.
 
My insurance covers GA piloting but recommending them to you won't do any good because they're Canadian ;-)
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
My insurance covers GA piloting but recommending them to you won't do any good because they're Canadian ;-)
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So a U.S. citizen would have to die *1.34 times due to the exchange rate?o_O

*no idea what the current exchange rate is, but as long as I think I’m funny, it doesn’t matter. :D
 
Have you considered whether you actually need life insurance? Are you producing an income that your wife would be unable to live without?

On top of that, the chances of actually dieing in a ga aircraft are pretty slim if you don't do something stupid like blunder into bad weather. Most crashes are caused by stupid pilot tricks like having too much air in the fuel tank. Even then the fatality rate is surprisingly low.
 
I’m thinking maybe you don’t really need life insurance…. You’re retired… you “sold your company” (assuming for a good chunk of change). I’m sure you have retirement savings….. if something happened, your wife would be fine, financially, I am assuming.
 
Legal & General
Banner Life Insurance is who I have mine though.

Just wrote the check. A shade under $1000 for the year with I think a $2mil payout. But I also got locked in at a younger age.
 
Think about total "wealth protection," as well.

I worry a lot more about shielding the family "nut" from liability judgements than life insurance. At near 70, good liability to shield my wife & accumulated wealth from liability claims for me doing something stupid with the plane or just my plane, due to a fault, somehow burning up a hanger full of aircraft has been hard to come by. I carry a substantial "umbrella policy" but it excludes all things aviation.

like most families, we're in between super wealthy & poor. With just enough accumulated wealth that a major liability claim would impoverish my wife, just as her earning years dry up. It's a tough problem.
 
Does she need it? I am younger than you don't have a huge income but my wife is 60 our house is paid for she could live on what she makes until SS kicks in and she can pull from our 401ks at that point.
 
Do you have assets? Are they leveraged by debt? If no debt? Why waste money on life insurance? Visit a trust attorney instead.
 
First, call the insurance company and find out if they'll remove the GA restriction. Some will, for a price. You also didn't specify if this is whole or term life insurance.
 
Jim K said:
Have you considered whether you actually need life insurance? Are you producing an income that your wife would be unable to live without?

On top of that, the chances of actually dieing in a ga aircraft are pretty slim if you don't do something stupid like blunder into bad weather. Most crashes are caused by stupid pilot tricks like having too much air in the fuel tank. Even then the fatality rate is surprisingly low.
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Or too much alcohol or unapproved drugs in the blood stream.

I had insurance like that for quite some time, but I wasn't flying, etc., so it didn't matter. Now, we are set, so no need for life insurance. And aviation renter's insurance is a lot less.
 
Last year, I inquired with my insurance agent (Allstate) about an umbrella policy.
No dice – aviation and motorcycles are excluded from their umbrella policy
 
NorthEast Ohio said:
Last year, I inquired with my insurance agent (Allstate) about an umbrella policy.
No dice – aviation and motorcycles are excluded from their umbrella policy
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My umbrella liability policy company didn't ask and apparently doesn't care about general aviation activities. They do care about my level of primary automobile insurance coverage. My employer life insurance policy insurer also didn't care I was a pilot. I inquired just to be sure. Talk to your local insurance agent. They will know this stuff and set you up with the right policy. And I agree once you are retired, protecting your income-generating assets is more important than life insurance.
 
chemgeek said:
My umbrella liability policy company didn't ask and apparently doesn't care about general aviation activities. They do care about my level of primary automobile insurance coverage. My employer life insurance policy insurer also didn't care I was a pilot. I inquired just to be sure. Talk to your local insurance agent. They will know this stuff and set you up with the right policy. And I agree once you are retired, protecting your income-generating assets is more important than life insurance.
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yeah, that’s the thing about an umbrella policy, you’ve got to bump up all your liability—home, car, boat…in some cases professional liability—to some base level before they will issue an umbrella policy. So a $5mil umbrella policy looks pretty cheap at $400 or so, until you look at the extra on all your liability policies. But, it costs money to protect “the nut.”

As we get older, wealth protection, as opposed to wealth accumulation, begins to take center stage in your thinking. Trusts, as someone mentioned, are another good way to protect family wealth from liability claims, but that is all state specific. So seek legal & investment advice.
 
Edward Cunningham said:
Are there Insurance carriers out there that will write a specific policy that ONLY covers you in the cockpit?
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Haven’t heard of that.

Life insurance typically covers for all deaths except for a few situations that are specifically excluded, not the other way around.

What I have is a term policy from Minnesota Life that doesn’t have words that exclude death while piloting a plane.

I also have another policy from another company that does exclude death while being crew of an aircraft, and that’s what you’re looking to avoid.

Choose an agent that specializes in aviation insurance, and they will get bids for you from several companies, for policies that lack the exclusion for crew or pilot. Travers is the agent I used; Minnesota Life was among the insurers that provided Travers a quote for me, and that’s how I ended up with my policy that’s good for a pilot.

https://www.traversaviation.com/pilot-life.html
 
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chemgeek said:
My umbrella liability policy company didn't ask and apparently doesn't care about general aviation activities. They do care about my level of primary automobile insurance coverage. My employer life insurance policy insurer also didn't care I was a pilot. I inquired just to be sure. Talk to your local insurance agent. They will know this stuff and set you up with the right policy. And I agree once you are retired, protecting your income-generating assets is more important than life insurance.
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Just because they didn't ask doesn't mean there isn't a clause saying they won't pay out if you're "piloting an aircraft" at the time of death.
 
chemgeek said:
My umbrella liability policy company didn't ask and apparently doesn't care about general aviation activities. [/QUOTE
Salty said:
Just because they didn't ask doesn't mean there isn't a clause saying they won't pay out if you're "piloting an aircraft" at the time of death.
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I'd suggest reading the policy. I've never seen an umbrella that doesn't have a GA exclusion.
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Many here have said “aviation” exclusion, while others have narrowed it to “GA” exclusion.

Regardless, exactly where is that line drawn?
 
Kritchlow said:
Many here have said “aviation” exclusion, while others have narrowed it to “GA” exclusion.

Regardless, exactly where is that line drawn?
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In the fine print
 
Kritchlow said:
Many here have said “aviation” exclusion, while others have narrowed it to “GA” exclusion.

Regardless, exactly where is that line drawn?
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Here’s an example of language in an aviation exclusion rider.

Aviation Risk Not Covered: We will not cover the death of the Insured Person that results from operating or riding in or descending from any aircraft, if the Insured Person was:
(1) a pilot, officer or crew member of such aircraft; or
(2) performing any duties aboard such aircraft; or
(3) giving, receiving or participating in any kind of aviation training or instruction; or
(4) participating in training, observation or maneuvers as a member of the military, naval or air forces of any country.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/771726/000119312515146058/d830066dex9926dxxxiii.htm

The military exclusion is quite common and it’s amazing how much premiums (both term and perm) went up from late 2001 thru about 2014 for policies that did not have either a .mil or an aviation exclusion.

SGLI was nice and all, but single income family with two kids for the vast majority of my career, it wasn’t going to cut it if something happened to me.
 
When I had term policies adding GA piloting was the same as being a smoker. It just added to the premium. The day I fired New York Life was a good day.
 
TCABM said:
Here’s an example of language in an aviation exclusion rider.

Aviation Risk Not Covered: We will not cover the death of the Insured Person that results from operating or riding in or descending from any aircraft, if the Insured Person was:
(1) a pilot, officer or crew member of such aircraft; or
(2) performing any duties aboard such aircraft; or
(3) giving, receiving or participating in any kind of aviation training or instruction; or
(4) participating in training, observation or maneuvers as a member of the military, naval or air forces of any country.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/771726/000119312515146058/d830066dex9926dxxxiii.htm

The military exclusion is quite common and it’s amazing how much premiums (both term and perm) went up from late 2001 thru about 2014 for policies that did not have either a .mil or an aviation exclusion.

SGLI was nice and all, but single income family with two kids for the vast majority of my career, it wasn’t going to cut it if something happened to me.
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Thank you for that, but I was always under the belief that “commercial airlines” did not fall under that definition. Perhaps I am wrong.
 
Edward Cunningham said:
Hello Fellow Avaitors.

I have a question. I am 60 years old, and now that my kids are all grown and out of the house and my business has been sold, I have the time and the money to finally finish my Private Pilot's license. However, my life insurance company (Prudential) had me sign a rider on my 500K life policy I took out several years ago, that said the policy will not pay out if I die while piloting a private general aviation aircraft.

I don't want to leave my wife without a death benefit should the unthinkable happen, so I was wondering if any of you have been faced with a similar problem? Are there Insurance carriers out there that will write a specific policy that ONLY covers you in the cockpit?
Click to expand...
Not to be overly morbid but... .

How will your wife's income be compromised if you should take the early dirt nap flying?

Are your investments/retirement accounts such that she will get those benefits without loss after you are gone?

There comes a point in a lot of lives where our still being upright adds a lot of costs to the family budget with no return. If you have already reached that point and she's not going to lose anything other than your companionship it might not make any sense to carry such a policy.

If she would suffer a loss, then look at term life policies that will not have an exception for pilots or see if for an additional expense your existing policy could have that rider waived.
 
Banner Life didn’t give me a rider with the piloting exception. They had a form for me to fill out about it, but they issued a policy without the rider.
 
Kritchlow said:
Thank you for that, but I was always under the belief that “commercial airlines” did not fall under that definition. Perhaps I am wrong.
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You are not wrong, that is just an example from an AXA policy of what it can look like.

I’ve seen some aviation exclusions that include “unless as part of a regularly scheduled flight.”

Many times the rider is tied to a premium tier. See some underwriter’s historical guidelines and tiers here, example below.

Term Preferred Plus/UL Select: Available with Aviation Exclusion Rider. Ages 71 & over not available.
Preferred NonSmoker: Available with Aviation Exclusion Rider. (May qualify for special no-flat rates as determined by underwriting.) Flat extra available on UL.
Standard Plus (term only), Standard N/S, Standard Smoker: Available as qualifies.
 
My employers accidental death and dismemberment policy excludes GA but not airline flight. I don't remember the exact wording I will see if I can find it.


ETA: Found it.

"aviation, except as a fare-paying passenger on a scheduled or charter flight operated by a scheduled airline"
 
I had a policy through PICLIFE and found them a breeze to deal with. Amusingly they had the AWOS for the ADS airport as their "music on hold."
 
O2 Birddog said:
Not to be overly morbid but... .

How will your wife's income be compromised if you should take the early dirt nap flying?

Are your investments/retirement accounts such that she will get those benefits without loss after you are gone?

There comes a point in a lot of lives where our still being upright adds a lot of costs to the family budget with no return. If you have already reached that point and she's not going to lose anything other than your companionship it might not make any sense to carry such a policy.

If she would suffer a loss, then look at term life policies that will not have an exception for pilots or see if for an additional expense your existing policy could have that rider waived.
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O2 Birddog is probably right, that the OP doesn’t need life insurance.

He’s 60, sold his business, and the kids are grown and gone. Assuming he’s not drawing a salary from a job not mentioned, there will be no loss of income for his wife if his death precedes hers. Life insurance is just a waste of assets, unless there’s more to the story than what the OP presented.
 
Yep, once the kids were through college and the house was paid off, I dropped the term life.
 
Once we were debt-free empty-nesters I dropped term life. No need to tempt SWMBO any more than absolutely necessary.
 
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