Darn C-180 insurance just jumped up

I am a new pilot. Had my PP and tail wheel for about two years. Have 176 hours and 123 of that in my PA-12 (wheels with a little bit of skis). Insured through AOPA for a little less than $3k. Now I am putting it on floats. Need 15 hours instruction and rating. Plane is ~$103k hull. Rate I was quoted is $6,500. I get I am low hours and live in Alaska, but wow floats is expensive. Same insurance limits as above $1mm/$100k/$5k. Figure learning floats in my own plane probably a really good idea to be fully insured. What is that saying, “ if it floats, f&@$, or flies...”

PA-12 on Baumanns said:

I am a new pilot. Had my PP and tail wheel for about two years. Have 176 hours and 123 of that in my PA-12 (wheels with a little bit of skis). Insured through AOPA for a little less than $3k. Now I am putting it on floats. Need 15 hours instruction and rating. Plane is ~$103k hull. Rate I was quoted is $6,500. I get I am low hours and live in Alaska, but wow floats is expensive. Same insurance limits as above $1mm/$100k/$5k. Figure learning floats in my own plane probably a really good idea to be fully insured. What is that saying, “ if it floats, f&@$, or flies...”

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Insurance on seaplanes has always been expensive in Alaska. You might talk to one of the outfits that kind of specializes in seaplanes. Falcon used to have best rates, but it’s been a while since I shopped that market. In the almost 30 years I owned seaplanes in Alaska, I never had hull coverage. Planes were paid for and if I screwed up.....

Best thing you can do is get a THOROUGH SES rating, not a “quicky”. Tell your instructor you want to learn to fly floats, NOT just get a few extra letters on your plastic cert.

MTV

I did my SES training at Twitchell's in Maine several years ago. Got a few hours on the water since then with a friend up in Kodiak, but not as much as I'd like... I was hoping to get back over to Twitchell's this summer to do some more flying and keep learning now that I'm back generally in the Northeast, but hopefully this COVID business doesn't screw the whole summer. Although I understand the business has changed hands over there and while they no longer have their own planes, there are still a couple of guys doing some instruction in their own aircraft.

If anyone is looking for an excuse to explore some of the many lakes of Nova Scotia once the borders open back up, let me know if you'd like someone to share expenses!

PA-12 on Baumanns:
I do not know if you have a Float CFI picked out yet. But that is what I do down in Homer, although I have traveled to other parts of the state.
Doing your rating in your plane is not only less expensive, it also helps build your hours in that airframe. Places like Falcon, Bill White or others will let you do ( added-insured ) for nothing when you find an old gray-hair high time CFI. The you later remove the CFI from your policy once you have the hours and ratings they want you to have. Places like AVEMCO let you pay quarterly, and they will adjust your rates as you add experiences. A few years back I made up a mountain flying course that made AVEMCO happy and we managed to drop 5% off the policy bills for a few pilots.

Alex
dragonflyaero.com

stewartb said:

You guys made me check. I was told there will be no price increase when my policy renews in June.

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I was just told by BWI this week that our Alaska policy through USAIG for the 180J on wheels and skis was going from $2,625 to $4,675 with $1,000/$2,500 deductibles for $185,000 hull value and with $1,000,000/$100,000/$5,000 liability limits.

The lower 48 policy through BWI went from that $2,625 to $2,847 with no deductibles from Global Aerospace.

I called AVEMCO and they were at about $4,800 for lower 48, with visits to AK up to 30 days; about $6800 for a dedicated AK policy.

That's with about 1,800 hours, commercial and instrument, over thousand in type and about 300 hours Alaska time and a bunch back in the sticks of Idaho. Never a claim, annual flight reviews, instrument checks every 6 months, FAA Wings program, etc.

I've considered removing the hull insurance and just keeping the liability.

Hopefully things will calm down next year.

EDIT: I had written that we jumped in hull value, but in fact we remain at the same hull value for this 2020 insurance cycle as for 2019.

My last post was February. I insure a Decathlon for 52K hull and standard liability. I turned 79 in June.

My agent has done a good job over the last decade - $600 less than Avemco for the Dec and the Cub. This year the Dec jumped by 78% (not quite double). I have 22,000 accident, violation, and claim-free hours. My agent said he could not guarantee that I would not be again hit with an age-related increase next year.

Avemco gave me a quote $300 less, and stated that there would be an age-related boost in two years - of nine percent.

Who knows what is next. I too am thinking liability only. I can afford to lose a hull.

Seventy eight percent! That was early July, or maybe late June. Ouch?

My insurance in a ’53 A model Cub jumped about 1/3 this year almost to 3k. I’m 50, just under 15K total time with about 1500 in tailwheel.