I am about ready for first flight, and amazed that no one that i know gives first flight insurance. The best I have found will not start until I have 5 hours dual, and 5 solo, and not cover my test pilot! I am planning the dual time, but how will I get 5 solo? It's $2987/year.

I have a CFI test pilot with over 1000 hours that will do the first flights, and my dual, and can't find hull insurance that will cover him. He has his own casualty insurance.

I am a brand new private pilot, a little over 70 hours total time, including training.

Any advice? What are others doing? My wish was to be fully covered before soloing in my CH750.

-John

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HOLY COW!!!!

I got three quotes from C-Plan (Canadian EAA insurance) and the policy has no issues with me flying.  I'm low time as well but have float and tail time, which helps for insurance costs.  Right now it's insured for the build only, the other quotes are for liability only, and the last for full coverage.  Full coverage is only $400 more than liability on the quote.  It's about $1500.00 for full coverage, build insurance was about 700... That's for 60k coverage.

As the owner I'm insured and anyone I approve of who is current and has 200 hours on type.    My buddy with 13,000 hours bush time will do the first flight.  If you are getting ripped in your area for insurance you might have to risk it and fly without full coverage for the first five hours I guess... Risky I know, but it's not like you can't fix it if you dent it right... ;)

Yep, eaa Falcon was the one I got the quote on.

I have Nationair good coverage and less restrictions.

Tom

John C.,

Find an independent aviation insurance broker. Let them do all the calls and legwork for you. You're probably not getting very good terms because of your low time, but a knowledgeable aviation broker usually talks directly to the underwriter and can "sell" you and negotiate the best terms ... it costs nothing and you usually wind up with the absolute lowest quote.  A lot of people just "assume" that the alphabets - EAA, AOPA, etc.- will get you the best discount but my broker beat their rates by a substantial amount with a reputable company. Worth a shot and costs nothing.

John A.

N750A

Hey John who is your insurance broker?  Can I have the test flights conducted solo by a very experienced pilot then  have him conduct dual training with the same person to get the dual and solo work done and then apply for the insurance?  Will that count against their demands?  Still a bit confused about Starr and Falcon 5 hours dual/ 5 hours solo before coverage.  That sounds to me like it does not need a CFI necessarily.  What are your thoughts on this?  It bugs me that Zenith has no CFIs to help us through this critical phase.  I put 6.5 hours dual on a tecnan 2004 last year whose performance is nearly identical to the Cruzer specs...broker says insurance company won’t accept that has to be STOL!  I don’t consider the Cruzer as a STOL aircraft at all.  Very frustrating and the monetary demands just keep climbing.  I have nearly 100 hours with nearly 60 hrs of that solo years ago.  This apparently is also worthless due to type change.   I should be an underwriter!  John

I use Tracey Ferguson at Coley-Christian Aviation Insurance in Memphis. 901-345-2121  I have no idea about the dual training, etc., but a good broker should be able to sort it out for you!

John

John. Congratulations on approaching the big day soon. Can't wait to see it and if you take video for us "hear" it as well. Post what you find about insurance back here as I am curious as well.

In my opinion you're going about this all wrong.  Why not get those 5 hours (and more) by getting some transition training with Buzz, and then do the first flight yourself...? 

That's what I did, and it worked well.  I too was a low time pilot, but I did my own first flight after some transition training - and the insurance company was fine with that.

I'd think that getting reasonable insurance on a 750 would be pretty easy.

Also, it's probably a mistake to use words like "test flight" when talking to an insurance vendor.  Tell them what they need to know, but no more.  You're simply wanting to insure your airplane, and you can put the ball in their court if you just ask them something like "if I get 5 hours of transition training in a similar aircraft, will that work for you?".  Instead of saying something like "I built this airplane but am afraid to fly it so I've got a low-time CFI who's going to test it for me and will you insure that?".  It's all in how you approach it.  

Just because a guy has a CFI and some experience in other airplanes doesn't make him any more qualified than you are in your airplane.  I've personally witnessed 15,000 hour airline pilots who couldn't land a Piper Cub worth a damn, and I bet your insurance company is taking that into consideration here....

I'm finishing a Cruzer and I've had good experience with EAA's carrier Falcon.  You can get first hour coverage with five hours of training in a Cruzer (not available that I've found) or a 750 STOL.  Buzz Flight Academy in Lawrenceburg TN is reliable.  You could also find a private individual with a 750 and log the time as PIC.  Also Kyle Voltz (kvoltz21@gmail.com) 309-945-5188 has enough time in type to be a second pilot on the initial test flight.  

It is very important to honestly self evaluate your skills and maybe even let Kyle do your first flight.  I have a similar thread going in the Cruzer forum.  You are invited to check it out. 

Avemco required I have two hours of PIC before they would insure my 601. I had to travel to Nevada to get the two hours of dual. In my case, all this did was make me wonder if I had made a huge mistake because I could not safely fly the plane in that two hours (part of this was due to the circumstances which I helped to create). It was, however, good enough for Avemco to start my insurance. FYI, Avemco turned out to be the cheapest insurance for me - and I did shop around.

Then I was fortunate to have someone very familiar with 601s fly right seat with me until I learned how to fly the plane. I was transitioning from 25 years of flying Cessna's and landing the 601 was very different and difficult at first. After about 5 hours I mostly got the hang of it. Now, I can land the plane exactly where I want it (almost) every time. I love the way it handles, but it is very different (at least to me) than flying a typical Cessna or Piper training aircraft.

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