Page 14 - Volume 11 Number 1

Simulator-Based
Training and
Insurance Coverage
As aviators operating high performance turbine aircraft, we are accustomed to mandatory and elective training. From our first experience of pursuing the private pilot license, we learn that the FAA has rules and regulations pilots must comply with. For the recreational, single­engine piston operator, the minimum training is a flight review every 24 months, while professional pilots could find formal training must be completed as often as every six months. As we gain experience and acquire additional ratings and licenses to operate turbine aircraft, we find ourselves evaluating the best way to operate at the highest level of competency. When this occurs, we also realize that the FAA’s rules for us to remain current and proficient is now combined with what our insurance underwriter and policy requires – most of the time, it requires training above and beyond the FAA mandates.
The aviation insurance marketplace has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. After 9­11, insurance rates spiked, policy terms and conditions tightened, and many of my colleagues, and myself, were furloughed as corporate flight departments closed. Fast forward 15 years and times have changed once again. Aircraft insurance rates are at historic lows, ancillary coverages are becoming increasingly more inclusive at each renewal, and jobs are plentiful. We are also seeing many more turbine aircraft, such as King Airs, becoming part of the owner­operator segment of general aviation. Whether you fly your King Air yourself or you hire a pilot to do so, King Airs are highly capable aircraft and are designed to be very versatile. Pilots operating the King Air should make sure they are as capable and versatile as the aircraft and conduct themselves as professional pilots.
We have more choices than ever before when it comes to training. To get the most out of your “risk placement program” (aka insurance policy), you and your flight department, if you have one, must be positively portrayed with a well communicated training plan to your broker and underwriter. There has been much debate in some
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flight departments on the best way to train – in the aircraft or simulator. Personally, as a professional King Air pilot, I experienced both. In the last 24 months, I have attended two separate training programs in full­ motion based simulators from well­known and respected training venues. Most recently, I attended CAE, formerly known as SimuFlite, which is where I routinely trained starting with my King Air 200 initial over 15 years ago. Additionally, I’ve trained in the actual aircraft for the King Air B100. There is great argument that supplemental training should be part of any professional pilot training curriculum too. We should not discount the importance that supplemental training provides the pilot in “rounding out” his or her airman skills and aeronautical decision making. However, I will be focusing on the benefits of full­motion, simulator­based training as the foundation of the training regimen and why insurance companies place value on this method.
Coverage Differences
As training relates to aviation insurance, underwriters are particularly interested in full­motion, simulator­ based training programs for the make and model of aircraft being insured. As I stated earlier, the industry has changed significantly over the last 15 years. If you want the best (top­rated carriers with the most liberal claims adjusters) insurance companies to insure you with the broadest coverages at the highest limits, your policy will require you to have a full­motion, simulator­based training program in place. Even if the pilot warranty in your policy states, “Anybody approved by the chief pilot or his/her designee,” the insurance company still expects acceptable training is taking place. If you desire low limits of liability with very basic and limiting ancillary coverages, depending on the pilots’ qualifications, you can probably get approval for in­aircraft training.
As a former professional pilot turned aviation insurance expert, I had the privilege to fly for a corporate flight de­ partment until they dissolved the company assets, starting with the company aircraft. I then flew for two different charter companies. The corporate flight department had
by Kyle White
JANUARY 2017