Fly! The London Airshow (Report & pics)

Re. Crown Indemnity. I’ve occasionally called the insurance company up, long after the premium has been paid and asked for Crown Indemnity and they have included it at no extra cost.

It used to be only about £8 for a day so hardly worth invoicing. Mind you, if I paid what they are currently asking I would want it thrown in too!

I have also asked for third-party insurance on the car to be included in the aircraft insurance as liveside cars are not insured, which is pretty serious and not very well published.

That is a good point. Thinking about it, the liveside is private property and so you would not be insured. This is a good point and one that I will add to mine.

Once it gets down to a level that is outside the realms of fantasy!

BTW I have now heard that the strip I was to assemble and fly from is now full. I have to instigate Plan B and I DON’T HAVE a Plan B!

Know of a strip with a hanger near Basinggrad?

MH

If it is not unique outside of Europe, I cannot help but wonder if you can use an insurance company based in a country where it is known. Instinct tells me you cannot, but I just wonder if anyone know what the rules are about insuring internationally, after all most of shipping worldwide comes to England (Lloyds) for insurance.

Do let us know how you get on.
Janie.

Janie,
I think it is possible to use any insurance company, in any country, as long as the insurance coverage is in accordance with the laws of the country of registry.

In Iceland, a lot of private pilots have insured their aircraft with a Danish insurance company called Codan.

Re. Crown Indemnity. I’ve occasionally called the insurance company up, long after the premium has been paid and asked for Crown Indemnity and they have included it at no extra cost.

I have also asked for third-party insurance on the car to be included in the aircraft insurance as liveside cars are not insured, which is pretty serious and not very well published.

It is a Rearwin Cloudster. Pretty standard two-seat high-wing monoplane about the same size as the Cessna Airmaster and with a 145 Scarab. There are a couple flying in the US but nowhere else. There was a similar one here a few years back but that was one of the tandem instruments trainers that were built for Pan Am. Shipping and Airlines at Biggin Hill had it but sold it back to the US in the early 1990s. I can’t imagine being able to insure it in the US for use here.

I just have to negotiate hard. It is not that I am after silly coverage. I have chosen a realistic value and yearly hours. I would want the MOD indeminity as I would want to take it to a couple of military fields from time to time, but that comes in at about an extra £50 for the year.

What annoyed me was that it was clear no one even wanted to play.

Melvyn

Melvin:

I am so sorry, but I cannot remember what it is that you are rebuilding and laziness/time prevents me from doing a search!

If it is not unique outside of Europe, I cannot help but wonder if you can use an insurance company based in a country where it is known. Instinct tells me you cannot, but I just wonder if anyone know what the rules are about insuring internationally, after all most of shipping worldwide comes to England (Lloyds) for insurance.

Do let us know how you get on.
Janie.

It’s a bit obvious, but have you tried AON?

I must admit I haven’t but I hadn’t really tried anyone yet. I am going to have to get sorted soon as the beast is evolving. I have had two quotes, both of which were ridiculous. The problem is that with a type that is unique in Europe they have no basis for risk assessment they say. The first place was £300 cheaper than the second but the chap at the second said he had tried three places, two refused it point blank and the other quoted high to make me go away.

What is annoying is that I know what other people are paying for aeroplanes of about the same value and it is about half what I am getting quoted. Getting some hours in type would help but that means going to either Clearwater, Florida, Alabama or Windsor Locks Connecticut. Even then I might only save a couple of hundred quid which sort of makes it unworthwhile. I do wonder if the the insurance companies would consider time on a like type, fo example a Cessna Airmaster which is same vintage and same engine.

I shall get in touch with Aon and try them. The new PFA insurance scheme is also a possibility but with the quotes I have had so far not having hull insurance is an option. A silly one but an option none the less.

Yesterday I flicked the master switch and she had life in her veins for the first time in 13 years. Now I just (!) have to connect up the engine controls, nail on the prop, bung a few cowlings and go fly.

MH

No one there with the slightest interest in insurance vintage aeroplanes.

It’s a bit obvious, but have you tried AON?

Positives – being absolutely spellbound as Les Brodie spoke for an hour about what it was like to fly Concorde.

Excellent! Didnt know they had concorde pilots there boths days. On the Sunday when i went, Capt. Mike Bannister was there, though he didnt give a talk, he signed photographs and other concorde memrobilia.

and a myriad of aircraft insurers weren’t really my thing.

Where the hell did you find them? One of the reasons I went (apart from the free ticket the wonderful Helen T. gave me) was to talk to insurers face to face. There was one company doing upper-end aircraft insurance and one doing life assurance for aviators. No one there with the slightest interest in insurance vintage aeroplanes.

On the whole I found it a bit something and nothing, it didn’t really strike me as having an identity. I am glad I did not have to pay as I think I would have felt a bit done.

MH

I went on the Saturday and wasn’t quite as impressed as I’d hoped to be. As with all things, it depends largely on what you want to get from an event, but I felt it was very much a broadbrush approach. Yes, I appreciate they had to cater for a wide spectrum, but the Flight Sims area, hangliders, brand spanking new helicopters, fibreglass Hawk and Harrier, and a myriad of aircraft insurers weren’t really my thing.

Positives – being absolutely spellbound as Les Brodie spoke for an hour about what it was like to fly Concorde (although which fool decided to run a dunking demo in the pool next door to the seminar room, I’ll never know…). Andy Cubin and his wife trying to sell me a Spinning Course in an Extra (give me a year or two first Andy, please…), and erm, the Breitlings Bar.

Will I go again? Not sure. I prefered the Flight Training exhibition at one of the Heathrow hotels last year, but as I say, it depends what you want to get out of it.

Great pics – and good to have you back on the forum!