Page 17 - Volume 15 Number 9

uncovered claim. To recap, a pilot landed at a remote airport during liquid precipitation. While on the ground the temperature dropped below freezing, but the precipitation also quit. When the passengers arrived, the pilot walked around the aircraft, got in and went to start the engines. He noticed one engine wasn’t operating normally during the start phase and aborted the start. Upon investigation, it was discovered the fan blades had frozen in place, prohibiting the air flow for a normal or cool start. This occurrence was not covered by the policy under the “freezing exclusion.”
King Airs are an extremely well-built aircraft and offer a great deal of efficient utility in the modern age. That makes it easy to justify an investment of the latest avionics and engine upgrades. However, when the aircraft is stripped down, a lot of surface area that hasn’t seen the light of day for decades is now visible. What you see may be bittersweet. “Sweet” because you found “wear and tear, rust, corrosion, or deterioration” before it caused structural failure of the aircraft, but “bitter” because of the unbudgeted repair costs not covered by insurance.
Damage to engines due to excessive heat is also not covered. Have you ever flown a King Air 200 with the -41 engines that are around TBO? The one I flew was a hangar queen and I have vivid memories of being ITT limited in the climb at a very low altitude. When starting the engines, we were always on high alert for a potential hot start, just like being in the simulator waiting for the instructor to toss that one at you! Again, an uncovered occurrence.
Compressor stalls can be difficult to determine if there is coverage under the policy, primarily because first it must be determined what caused the compressor stall and what is the resulting damage. If the engine experiences a compressor stall and resulting damage is determined to be the result of normal wear and tear or mechanical breakdown, then it isn’t covered. If the compressor stall occurred because the engine was already damaged by undetected FOD, then it would be covered because there was an “occurrence” in which ingestion was the direct correlation of the resulting damage.
While you can’t buy back or buy out the entire exclusion around mechanical breakdown and heat damage to engines, some carriers allow you to purchase some of it back. The write back can be very specific and detailed. A recently reviewed endorsement for adding some of this coverage back is three pages long. To summarize: “Coverage is extended to apply to physical damage
SEPTEMBER 2021
caused by and confined to mechanical or electrical breakdown, failure or malfunction to an insured engine.” Additional language also states that the damage had to be a single incident during the policy period that requires immediate repairs due to the severity of the breakdown. Also, the buyer needs to be aware that if they have a separate contract or warranty that covers such incidents, then that contract shall pay and not the insurance coverage. For example, an engine service or pay by the hour engine maintenance contract.
There are also conditions within the add back that should be understood, such as: “If the failure of the part was a result from not complying with an Airworthiness Directive issued by the FAA or the failure of the insured to conduct other required maintenance as outlined by the engine manufacturer, then there is no coverage.” The amount the policy will pay is also reduced based on the cycle-life or time-life limit of the components, parts or accessories at the time of the loss. With this in mind,
6 26 18
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 15