Picture this: You’re rolling down the runway in your King Air 350, the PT6 engines humming smoothly as you prepare to rotate. Suddenly, a wayward goose crosses your path and before you can react, it’s sucked into the starboard engine. The cockpit lights up with warnings and your stomach drops – not just from the bird strike but from the looming question: Who’s paying for this?
Foreign object damage is an ever-present risk for turboprop operators, and for King Airs powered by the ubiquitous Pratt & Whitney PT6 engines, the stakes are high. If you’re enrolled in the MORE program – Maintenance On Reliable Engines – the answer lies at the intersection of maintenance coverage and your insurance policy.
Here’s what every King Air owner needs to know when FOD strikes.
The FOD threat to the PT6
The PT6 engine is a marvel of aviation engineering; it’s reliable, powerful and has been a cornerstone of the King Air lineage since the 1960s. But its forward-facing inlet, designed to gulp air for those twin turbines, is also a magnet for trouble. FOD can come from anywhere: birds, runway gravel, ice chunks dislodged from the airframe or even a stray wrench left behind by a distracted mechanic.
The damage ranges from minor compressor blade nicks costing a few thousand dollars to repair to catastrophic failures requiring a full engine teardown and bills soaring past $200,000. For King Air operators who rely on these aircraft for everything from business trips to personal adventures, FOD can be a mechanical and financial headache. 
Take a real-world example: In 2024, a King Air operator in Florida reported FOD. The PT6 was inspected and many blades were found damaged. The repair estimate was $103,000 plus weeks of downtime as rental engines are hard to find. For owners enrolled in the MORE program, such incidents raise a critical question: How does an engine past its original TBO avoid betterment deductions from the insurance adjustor or receive parts that are of equal value? Splitting this burden between the King Air owner and the insurance company becomes an art, not a science.
The MORE program: Maintenance meets FOD
It’s not insurance, rather it’s a proactive maintenance contract designed to keep your engine in peak condition through scheduled overhauls, parts replacement and discounted repairs.
The MORE program is a lifeline for PT6 operators. It’s not insurance, it’s a proactive maintenance contract designed to keep your engine in peak condition through scheduled overhauls, parts replacement and discounted repairs. Enrollment levels vary, from basic plans covering routine maintenance to comprehensive packages that include unscheduled events. But when it comes to FOD, the MORE program’s role isn’t always straightforward and can even complicate an insurance claim.
If your PT6 suffers FOD, the MORE program might cover repairs, but most likely this peril is referred to the insurance policy. Most standard MORE agreements focus on wear-and-tear or scheduled overhauls – think hot section inspections or turbine rebuilds – not sudden, external events like a bird strike. One King Air owner I spoke with learned this the hard way after a gravel ingestion incident. His MORE plan covered a discounted bearing replacement during the next scheduled maintenance, but the immediate FOD repairs fell outside the plan’s scope, leaving him to lean on his insurance.
This is where the program shines indirectly: meticulous maintenance records. The MORE program enforces strict documentation and regular inspections, which can prove invaluable when filing an insurance claim. If your PT6 is well-maintained under MORE, it’s harder for an insurer to pin the damage on normal wear and tear, which can lead to a denied claim.
Insurance: The FOD safety net
For most King Air owners, hull insurance is the backbone of FOD protection. This coverage, typically bundled into an aviation policy, pays for physical damage to the aircraft – including engine repairs – minus a deductible and the depreciated value of the damaged part. If a flock of starlings turns your PT6 into a blender, your insurer will dispatch an adjuster, assess the wreckage and cut a check based on your policy terms. A typical claim might cover teardown costs, parts, labor and even loss-of-use expenses if your King Air is grounded for weeks.
But here’s where the MORE program complicates things. Some experts will argue that a PT6 has no value once it hits 3,600 hours, while others feel the engine is just getting broken in and will last for thousands more hours if maintained properly. These two perspectives have a tremendous effect on how much your insurance company will pay for a FOD event. Take for example the $103,000 claim in Florida. Originally, an expert said that the engine was past the 3,600 TBO therefore insurance has no obligation to pay to repair the damage. The King Air owner felt he still had 12.5% life left on his engine time per the MORE program. This discussion needs to be had and a conclusion reached to determine if the insurance company will pay for any of the replacement parts and labor.
Once you have the insurance company understanding and agreeing to your perspective, you must negotiate how much they are going to pay for the parts. If new parts are installed and you only have 12.5% of the life left in the engine, that 12.5% is all the insurance company will want to pay. The other 87.5% is considered betterment – meaning you are better off after the claim than before because you have new parts. To avoid betterment and to keep the repair cost down, the insurance company will try to find used or refurbished parts. But in this post-COVID era, parts are hard to come by at times, and the insurance company will have no choice but to put new parts in the engine. That is their problem, not yours. You shouldn’t be penalized because used parts are not available.
If your engine is enrolled, repairs might involve the MORE program and your insurer, creating a two-headed claims process. Say a bird strike damages your compressor and turbine blades. For example, under MORE you might get a discounted replacement part with the program covering 30% of the cost. Your insurance then steps in to pay the balance, minus your deductible, assuming the claim is approved. This synergy can save thousands but it requires coordination. Insurers may scrutinize MORE’s contribution to avoid overpaying, while the MORE program won’t touch repairs outside their contract’s scope.
When going through the repair estimate, make sure you have good representation by your broker to be able to get as much of it paid for by the insurance company as possible. I’ve seen King Air owners leave a lot of money on the table. On the earlier referenced $103,000 claim, the insurance company originally only wanted to pay $68,000. After some back-and-forth on each line item, the insurance company ended up paying $85,000.
Flat-out denials are another risk. Insurers sometimes reject FOD claims if they suspect the event wasn’t a one-time occurrence that requires immediate attention. The MORE program’s rigorous upkeep standards can counter these arguments but only if your paperwork is airtight. One operator dodged a denial after a 2022 FOD incident by presenting MORE logs showing a clean inspection just days prior.
Navigating the fallout: Tips for King Air owners
So, how do you ensure FOD doesn’t ground your King Air and your wallet for good? Here are practical steps:
Know your MORE contract: Review your enrollment tier. Does it include unscheduled repairs like FOD? If not, plan to rely on insurance for the heavy lifting.
Check your policy: Confirm your hull insurance covers FOD explicitly. Some policies carve out exceptions. Align your deductible with your risk tolerance. A $5,000 deductible might sting less than a $25,000 deductible after a major hit. Also, look for the betterment language or other similar wording where used parts are the go-to solution.
Act fast: After a FOD event, notify your insurer and MORE coordinator immediately. Submit detailed logs – standard with MORE – to streamline the claim. Pictures with a borescope are critical too.
Mitigate risks: Inspect runways for debris, use bird deterrents at home fields and double-check preflight for loose items near the inlet. Prevention beats any claim.
The bottom line
FOD to your PT6 isn’t a question of if, but when. And when it happens, the interplay between the MORE program and your insurance policy determines your fate. The MORE program can soften the blow with discounted repairs and bulletproof documentation while insurance covers the lion’s share of an unscheduled disaster. Together, they’re a powerful duo, but only if you understand their limits and overlap.
For King Air operators, staying proactive – both in maintenance and policy management – is the key to keeping your wings in the air and your finances intact. Next time you hear that PT6 spool up, you’ll know you’re covered, no matter what the runway throws your way.
Kyle P. White, ATP & MEII, is an aviation insurance executive for a global insurance brokerage company. As a former professional King Air captain on BB-1118, he still enjoys flying his family’s J-model Bonanza and Piper Cub. He can be reached at kpwhite816@gmail.com.