Recent content by Geosync

I'm in insurance and the policy almost always(but not always )spells out how many hours are need to make them happy. Usually it 10 hours in small fixed gear, fixed prop aircraft and goes up per complexity all the way to jets. Of course there are odd circumstances like this underwriters don't...

I'm in claims. If the cost to repair is anywhere near the insured value I'd total it and sell the salvage. The ruddervators are valuable but the kicker is the time and cost to fix the gear up. Insureds are becoming unhinged for year plus repairs after they gear up and we don't need the...

If it's a rental the FBO is going to feel the pain from the insurance company. They may pay the total loss but the rates will skyrocket and the underwriter may impose rental requirements moving forward. If the pilot owned the aircraft he will definitely be uninsurable and the claim may be...

Possibly distraught after the hard landing, perhaps he was at the controls and thought his career is over. Flying mil jumpers, probably special ops at that age (23?) Is pretty damn cool. Maybe he had a connection within the company/contractor community who got him the job and he bends the...

I'm a claims adjuster so in my opinion you should report it to your insurance company. The FAA won't help you get it paid for and they're really only interested in if there is a damaged aircraft flying out there now, not yours. Your claims guy will make you whole and pursue the responsible...

If I could easily afford glass, then glass. If not, steam(or semi-steam these days). That simple.

Good answers thus far. There are many FAA regs that don't make sense but they are what they are and if a one man crusade could change things it would have been done a long time ago. You can do a lot of preventative maintenance, heck you can do whatever you want as long as an A&P or IA is...

It depends on the policy. I'm an adjuster and some policies(usually larger fleets) have first right of refusal, but most small GA do not(at least in my company). Now, in practice we usually ask the insured if he/she wants to purchase the salvage back from us anyway. This saves us the hassle...

I'll just add, from an adjuster's POV, we do what's prudent cost and time wise. All things being equal we don't have a preference. We may have a suggestion based on experience. And aircraft values are stated on the policy, so if the cost to repair(the estimate) exceeds that value, it's by...

There are still quite a few flying in Russia and even Europe, I saw both first hand. The joke was it moves the same speed for taxi, takeoff, cruise and landing. There is a TP version that is in development but I don't expect it to get any traction, especially in the west.

Yes. I'm in claims and have had to pay it. The FAA has a contractor that does these flights and they flight a Hawker 800 or something, when a Cessna 172 will do. Complete racket.

I'm in claims, and I think this is on your broker/agent. The insurance company can only go off the information the broker submits to them. Most underwriters are pilots but a C-172 TD is rare enough that UWs my not know it exists and thus not even consider it. But your broker is the one that...

Try calling Million Air at BUR. BUR is GA friendly and never the clusterf&*k that VNY is. Even VFR is piece of cake into BUR and the controllers accommodating. I fly into there exclusively now instead of VNY who doesn't like GA. If you can work out a deal with them(don't see why not) I'd do...

I take it price is not an issue for you since you didn't bring it up. It's better to get a plane that doesn't need upgrading if you can. I was perusing the classifieds the other day and saw a couple 182 IO550s for sale in the mid $200ks if I remember correctly. There was C-206 IO550 for $200k...

As a claims adjuster who has been to many tragic crash sites that started like this, I thank you. Introspection is a very good thing after a near miss. GA IFR in real IMC is very unforgiving and the mostly hobby nature of the pilot in GA doesn't help. I have my own strict personal minimums now...