Is LOBO Working on an Insurance Solution?

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Yes, insurance is a very serious consideration for Lancair Owners.  Your LOBO board has made finding and maintaining affordable insurance one of our top priorities.  Several of us have been working on compiling updated stats on critical factors affecting how the risk for Lancair compares with other EAB aircraft (experimental amateur built).  This study required extensive research to determine fleet size by year and FAA/NTSB accidents recorded by year.  The data is very favorable in both the accident rate of Lancairs vs. other EAB aircraft in general, AND the significantly improved safety record (since 2009) of pilots that have completed LOBO-Approved transition and annual training as compared to Lancair pilots who have not done so. This information has been reviewed for accuracy and completeness by independent, third-party analysis and is now being presented to the insurance industry by the chair of our insurance committee, an industry professional who is also a Lancair owner/operator. Our goal is to shift the tide on the insurance industry's past practice of using old data and "hunches" or "rumors" about the risk of insuring Lancair aircraft to using "fact-based data" for those decisions.

 

Your board is working very hard on this extremely important issue. Unfortunately this is a long-term effort, and our results will not show overnight.  

 

Tom Sullivan

Newbie LOBO Board Member

Tom, I applaud your efforts

Tom, I applaud your efforts on this. Please let me know how we can help with this. If COPA figured it out for the Cirrus community, we should be able to use Lancair data to show them the safety trends. With that said, all of GA is experiencing insurance rates and market pressure. 

-Ryan

Ryan,

Ryan,

The difference is that COPA, Bonanza pilots, etc. have gotten their pilot members to want to take the training, whereas only a small portion of Lancair pilots want to take training. I have had a number of new or perspective Lancair owners over the last couple of years (my day job as a Chief pilot/Aircraft sales guy keeps me busy) that call or email for a 'quick checkout' in a Lancair IV or ES and EVO.  After listening to them tell me all the things they have flown, captain for some airline, airshow performer, I basically explain to them politely that just because they are God's gift to aviation they still should do the 3 or 4 days of training or more if I deem it so.  The typical response is, "Well I will have to see what my calendar says...".  I never hear back from them as they are going instructor shopping.  Some call back to bargain and I turn them down.  

I think that another contributing factor is that these planes are so inexpensive for the performance they provide compared to other makes is that many buyers don't have to finance the purchase.  If they don't finance there's no one demanding that they keep a certain amount of hull coverage, which also means there's no insurance underwriter demanding transition training or recurrent training.  When you look at a 'store bought' airplane like Cirrus or Bonanza's those things are over a million dollars whereas you can buy a steam gauge Lancair IV-P built in the mid 1990s for $180,000 and take it FL250.  "riddle me that Batman?"  You can buy turbine Evolutions and IV-PTs well under $800,000 that are pressurized and cruise at close to 300 KTAS where as any other plane with similar performance you had better add another million dollars in front of it to start to play in this league.  Very few people can afford the risk of self-insuring a plane that costs over a million dollars especially if they are going to carry passengers.  Planes under $800,000?, we see self insurers all day long.

That's my .02¢ 

George

George, 

George, 

It’s committed instructor’s like you that keep pilots like “us” alive when the sh*t hits the fan.  Four  years of consistent and “serious LOBO Training” is why my wife and I are here to fly another day!  Engine failure at 500’ AGL, in a prop jet, doesn’t usually have a “walk from the emergency landing site” outcome like mine did after training EVERY YEAR with Chris!!!!  He wasn’t easy, he challenged every aspect of my flying abilities, and my wife and I are here because of his (and your)  commitment to KEEP US CURRENT!

Tom Sullivan 

Thank You Tom. That’s

Thank You Tom. That’s encouraging to hear your story!!!  It certainly makes me want to do more of this training. 

George, I hear you. I also

George, I hear you. I also think a lack of LOBO qualified instructors are another barrier to LOBO training. I know we tried to make it work for your schedule when I bought my ES, but you are only one of a handful of qualified instructors in the entire country. Those organizations have far more qualified instructors. I plan to go through the course and am working to schedule with Ernie since he's in the same state. I also plan to help out as a CFI/II once I meet the required make/model hours. 

Regarding their performance, I hope people aren't conflating price with performance. Like my first CFI told me, a Piper Cub is just fast enough to kill you. 

I am going to be in Texas in

I am going to be in Texas in mid June helping my parents and might be able squeeze a little time away to fly with you or Parker. I am going to Brenham. 

We definitely need more

We definitely need more instructors, so hope you can jump in and help.  The problem is we need more instructors but there's not enough business for someone to be a full time instructor so there's little incentive and the people taking the course have to travel or the other way around and also making the time to be able to give 3 or 4 days when you are a student or instructor working a full time job.  We need instructors that are retired and are able to do this for fun.  Finding qualified people that still feel like being in the instructor realm after they are retired is also hard.

As far as insurance rates: I don't complain as I sell diamond aircraft and other brands as well.  When I see people paying 10 to 12,000 per year for a single engine piston airplane that costs under $700K is when I am glad to have the old ES and paying only $3,300 for $195,000 hull value.  The new Diamond DA62 some are paying close to $40,000 for a $1.6 million dollar airplane.  

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