Pilot’s Guide to Insurance
Welcome to the Pilot’s Guide to Insurance, a resource for pilots and
airplane owners seeking to protect themselves from the risk of liability in airplane accidents.
You are welcome to sample the Guide in the window below, but you are encouraged to visit the publication’s
site on
Scribd,
where you can purchase a pdf version of the Guide.
About the Book
A serious airplane accident can wipe out a pilot’s entire accumulated wealth and
retirement savings. For this reason, you must take care when deciding what insurance
protection to purchase to protect yourself from liability arising out of airplane accidents.
Many pilots make these decisions with insufficient information regarding the
risks they face or base their decisions on misinformation. This guide provides the information
you need in order to make intelligent choices when it comes time to purchase
insurance.
In Chapter 1 we examine how the judicial system handles personal injury and property damage claims arising out
of airplane accidents and show why it is important that pilots arrange their affairs so that if an accident occurs,
there will be plenty of insurance money available with which to settle the claims of injured parties.
In Chapter 2 we discuss the problem of the $1 million per occurrence liability limit in most aviation policies
explore possibilities for making sure there is more than $1 million available for settlement in case of an accident.
In Chapter 3 we discuss the ubiquitous $100,000 per passenger sublimit and explore the means by which you can protect yourself from liability to passengers, including releases and incorporation.
In Chapter 4 we learn how to read an insurance policy.
In Chapter 5 we discuss the liability issues pertaining to student pilots and flight instructors.
About the Author
Stephen S. Ashley received his A.B. degree from Stanford University in 1973, his J.D.
degree from the Hastings College of the Law in 1976, and his B.C.L. degree from the University
of Oxford in 1978. He practiced law for five years with the San Francisco law firm
of Cooley, Godward, Castro, Huddleson & Tatum and then struck out on his own to
author a treatise on the law of insurance claim settlement practices and to publish a periodical
on the same subject. He taught insurance law at the University of San Francisco
School of Law and at the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt
Hall).
In 1999, Mr. Ashley began flying lessons and earned his private pilot certificate five
months later. Soon thereafter he joined the University of California Flying Club, purchased
his first airplane, and began training for his instrument rating. For a period, the
UC Flying Club had no instructors, so he set about to rectify the situation by earning his
commercial pilot certificate and then, in September of 2003, his flight instructor certificate.
He added the instrument rating to his flight instructor certificate a year later.
Mr. Ashley’s limited liability company, Oakland Aviation, LLC, owns a Cessna 172 and
two Cessna 152s. Mr. Ashley manages the 172 for the member pilots of Oakland Aviation,
LLC and provides flight instruction in the 152s. He is a member of the board of
directors of the Alameda Aero Club.
Stephen S. Ashley
Alameda, California
www.N612SP.com/CFI
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