Flying club insurance: what clubs carry, what a member pays after damage, and what it costs

How is a flying club insured, and what does a member pay if they damage a club aircraft? We read the insurance pages, operating rules and bylaws of flying clubs, kept the 17 that say something about their insurance — 15 in the United States, one in the United Kingdom and one in the Netherlands — and added AOPA's flying-club insurance material, and put the answers side by side: the limits clubs carry, what a member pays after an accident, whether members need a policy of their own, and what the insurance costs.

Short answer: a flying club usually insures its aircraft and its liability in one club policy that covers its members — at several clubs as named insureds, so the insurer cannot claim a loss back from them as it can from a renter. The liability limits the clubs we read publish are $1,000,000 (five clubs) or $2,000,000 (two) per occurrence, with $100,000 to $250,000 per passenger or person. A member who damages an aircraft pays up to the deductible or a club cap: $500 to $5,000 at the nine US clubs that state an amount, and more after breaking the rules. AOPA's most recent example splits a $6,000 premium between ten members — $600 each — and the clubs that say how pay it from the dues (at North Weald, from the hire rates).

Who pays after an accident in a club aircraft

1. The member who was flying

   Pays the deductible on the hull — at some clubs only by share of fault, at others in full — and more after breaking the rules. A club deductible fund or the member’s own policy can take this part over.

2. The club policy: hull

   Pays the rest of the repair to the aircraft, up to its insured value. Where members are named insureds, the insurer cannot claim it back from them, as TSS Flying Club and Michigan Flyers explain.

3. The club policy: liability

   Pays for injury and damage to others, up to its limit per occurrence and per passenger. It does not cover the member’s own injuries.

4. The member’s own policy, if any

   Above the club’s limits, or when a member is sued in person — AOPA: the club policy will not cover a member individually named in a lawsuit.

How a club policy covers its members

A club owns its aircraft, so it buys an owner's policy: hull cover on the aircraft and liability cover for what happens with it. AOPA's flying-club insurance white paper: "A typical club insurance policy will provide liability coverage to the club and its members for bodily injury and property damage for which the club and its members are legally liable." To cover every member, "the insurance company will require a roster of members".

That is the difference with renting. A renter flies someone else's aircraft, and if the renter damages it the operator's insurer can pay the operator and then claim the money back from the renter — subrogation. TSS Flying Club and Michigan Flyers explain why that does not happen to their members; others say their members are named on the policy or insured as owners:

• TSS Flying Club: "Members are named insureds on the club insurance policy. That means that the insurance company can’t subrogate against you."
• Michigan Flyers: "You do not need to obtain renters insurance because you are barred from any subrogation by our insurance company – you are their policy holder."
• Fox Flying Club: "You are insured as an aircraft owner and your insurance coverage is better than any rental situation."
• Oregon State Flying Club: "All “Active” members of the corporation are named on the insurance policy."
• International Flying Club: "Members are "named insured" - meaning you are fully covered when flying club aircraft, except for deductibles."

AOPA warns of two things a club policy may not do. Its sample operating rules: "Individual pilots/club members are not protected for their own injuries." And the white paper: "However, the club policy will not provide coverage if the member is individually named in a lawsuit."

Liability limits: $1 million or $2 million

Liability limits of club policies

• Michigan Flyers$2,000,000
  $2,000,000, $250,000 per seat
• Advantage Aviation$2,000,000
  $2,000,000 per occurrence, $250,000 bodily injury per person
• Fox Flying Club$1,000,000
  $1,000,000 per accident, $100,000 per passenger ($25,000 for the pilot’s family)
• Westchester Flying Club$1,000,000
  $1,000,000 per occurrence, $100,000 per passenger, $100,000 property damage
• Phoenix Flyers$1,000,000
  $1,000,000 per occurrence, $100,000 per person (as of October 2017)
• FAA Flying Club$1,000,000
  $1,000,000, with complete hull cover
• Purdue Pilots Inc.$1,000,000
  $1,000,000 for bodily injury and property damage, with complete hull cover

Seven of the clubs publish their liability limits. Five carry $1,000,000 — Fox Flying Club, Westchester Flying Club, FAA Flying Club, Purdue Pilots and Phoenix Flyers (its figures date from October 2017) — and two carry $2,000,000: Michigan Flyers ("$2,000,000 of liability coverage, subject to $250,000 per seat") and Advantage Aviation Inc. in Palo Alto, which runs its rentals as a membership club. Within the total, the policy caps what it pays per passenger or person: $100,000 at Fox, Westchester and Phoenix, $250,000 at the two $2 million clubs. That matches what AOPA wrote in 2016: "The most common policy provides $1 million of overall coverage, with a sublimit of $100,000 per passenger. Amounts up to $2 million / $250,000 are available for a higher premium."

The per-passenger limit is the number to look at before you take passengers: each one's claim stops at that amount, so with three passengers at $100,000 each the policy pays them at most $300,000 of its $1,000,000.

What a member pays after damaging a club aircraft

What a member pays after damaging a club aircraft

United States, 9 clubs

• Purdue Pilots Inc.$500
  $500 deductible in motion, $100 not in motion, paid by the member flying
• Mitchell Flying Club$500
  a $500 deductible “I believe”, as its FAQ puts it
• Fox Flying Club$1,000
  the $1,000 deductible
• Michigan Flyers$1,000
  $1,000 in motion, $250 not in motion, times the member’s share of the fault
• Phoenix Flyers$1,000
  the full $1,000 in-motion deductible ($250 not in motion), at fault or not (as of October 2017)
• FAA Flying Club$2,500
  the deductible, at most $2,500, when the incident is the member’s fault
• Oregon State Flying Club$2,500
  up to the $2,500 deductible, if flying within the insurance requirements
• Paramus Flying Club$5,000
  $2,500 if the club makes no claim, otherwise the deductible; never more than $5,000 for a member who kept to the rules · exception: the full unrecovered cost after a rule violation or gross negligence
• TSS Flying Club$5,000
  capped at $5,000 for minor incidents

United Kingdom

• North Weald Flying Group£1,000
  the excess, “on average around £1,000”, unless the member pays the £60-a-year waiver

The hull cover pays for repairs to the aircraft above a deductible, and most clubs that say who pays put that deductible on the member who was flying — some in full, some only by share of fault, some only when the member is at fault. As AOPA puts it, "there will typically be a deductible on the hull coverage that could be the member’s responsibility." The most a member pays within the rules, at the nine US clubs that state an amount, runs from $500 to $5,000:

• $500: Purdue Pilots ("$100 deductible for non-motion incidents $500 deductible for in-motion incidents"); Mitchell Flying Club ("We have a $500 insurance deductible, I believe").
• $1,000: Fox Flying Club ("The member is responsible for the deductible of $1,000."); Michigan Flyers and Phoenix Flyers ($1,000 in motion, $250 not in motion; Phoenix's figures as of October 2017).
• $2,500: FAA Flying Club (at most $2,500, when the incident is the member's fault); Oregon State Flying Club ("if you bend metal, you could owe the club as much as $2500.").
• $5,000: TSS Flying Club ("Member liability for minor incidents will be capped at $5,000"); Paramus Flying Club ($2,500 if the club makes no insurance claim, otherwise the deductible — and "the Board of Trustees may not impose any liability on such member exceeding $5,000" if the member kept to the rules).

How the deductible is shared differs. Michigan Flyers assesses the member by fault: the club will "determine what percent of fault is the member's — if any — and assess them for that percentage of the deductible." Phoenix Flyers charges it regardless: "Each member is responsible to the full deductible amount during the time he or she is in possession of the corporation aircraft." And the cap holds only within the rules. Hokie Flying Club: "In an accident resulting from pilot error, the pilot shall pay the deductible amount not covered by the insurance policy" — but "In an accident resulting from the pilot’s disregard for the FAA, airport or Club rules, the pilot shall stand the entire cost of the accident over and above the applicable insurance coverage if any." Paramus Flying Club's bylaws let the board assess "the full or any portion of the unrecovered costs to the Club" after a rule violation or gross negligence.

Some clubs take the deductible off the member's hands. AOPA: "Some clubs may put part of the monthly dues into a “deductible fund” whereby the fund would cover any deductible payments." Advantage Aviation, with a $5,000 deductible per loss, pays it for "each member who pays the mandatory monthly deductible fee" — a fee charged to every member who flies that month — and the fee "may be waived" for a member whose own policy "provides for primary coverage from the first dollar for all property damage and insurance deductibles up to $10,000". In the UK, North Weald Flying Group's excess is "on average around £1,000", and its £60-a-year waiver "fully covers your insurance excess liability should you be involved in an accident or incident that results in an insurance claim."

Do members need their own insurance?

Of the clubs that say anything about it, only Westchester requires it; the others range from "not applicable" to "encouraged":

• Not needed: Hokie Flying Club ("Each Club member is part-owner when they join the Club, therefore Renter’s insurance is not applicable."), Michigan Flyers, Mitchell Flying Club ("members are treated like owners. You save needing renters insurance.").
• Optional or encouraged: Fox Flying Club ("Based on your personal financial situation, you may wish to carry additional renter's insurance."), Oregon State Flying Club ("Members are encouraged to carry their own “renter’s insurance” as secondary coverage."), Phoenix Flyers and Advantage Aviation, and TSS Flying Club, where many members insure the $5,000 they can owe. International Flying Club gives a price: "Avemco renter's insurance is about $200/yr, maybe a bit less with qualifying discounts."
• Required: Westchester Flying Club: "Member will be required to maintain a basic non-owned aircraft insurance policy with limits of $250k liability coverage, $25k bodily injury and $5k of hull (physical damage) liability." Its members also enrol in a Hull Reserve Fund before flying.

One catch in an equity club, where members own shares of the aircraft: AOPA's white paper says most non-owner/renter's "policies exclude coverage for any aircraft in which the policyholder has more than a 20% ownership interest", so "a member of an equity flying club who has more than a 20% equity share would not be able to purchase a non-owner policy" that covers the club aircraft. In a non-equity club, AOPA adds, this is not an issue. Our renter's insurance guide lists what those policies cost and what flight schools require.

What the insurer asks of the pilots

A club's insurance often decides who may fly what, and the club turns it into a rule:

• Recent flying. Hokie Flying Club: "Insurance requires each pilot of the aircraft to have logged 3 hours PIC in the last 180 days, and if not, an instructor checkout shall have been completed in the last 45 days."
• Experience in type. International Flying Club's insurer asks "100 hrs of total logged pilot flight time (dual or PIC) before acting as PIC" in its Piper Arrow, plus time in type — and on its policy "experimental category aircraft, high performance aircraft, and any aircraft with a hull value exceeding $200,000 are excluded from coverage on our Avemco flying club insurance policy."
• Where you may land. Mitchell Flying Club: "Our insurance stipulates that only fields shown on the sectional be used."
• Instructors. AOPA: "the policy almost always requires that the CFI be specifically listed and named on the policy." TSS Flying Club's rules, under insurance reasons: "Student pilots must use club member instructors"; International Flying Club encourages instructors to join "to be included on our insurance policy as a named member". See flying club vs flight school for how clubs arrange instruction.

A booking system can only enforce rules like these if it keeps each pilot's checkouts on record; 16 of the 22 clubs in our booking rules overview set a currency or checkout rule.

What flying club insurance costs

Clubs rarely publish their premium; they publish that the dues pay for it. FAA Flying Club's $125 a month covers "fixed costs of operating the Club such as tie down fees, hangar fees, insurance, and other administrative costs"; Gopher Flying Club's "$70 per month (covers fixed costs such as hangars and insurance)"; International Flying Club: "The cost of the club insurance policy is built into the membership dues." AOPA called the premium "often being the largest single expense item in a club’s annual budget" (2016).

AOPA's own examples, by date:

• 2016: "In general, you can expect the premium for a flying club to be about three times the price of a single pilot owning the same airplane." Its example: a single owner flying 100 hours a year pays $1,250; a club of 10–15 members flying the same aircraft 600 hours pays $3,750, or $250–$375 per person.
• Guide to Starting a Flying Club: an owner's liability and hull cover "is priced at $875 per year"; a ten-member club's policy "is priced at $3,200 per year" — "it comes out to just $320 per year per pilot." And: "we have learned that the cheapest club policies are for clubs with five or fewer members."
• October 2025: "For example, a $6,000 annual premium split between 10 members comes out to just $600 per person, often less than a single renter’s insurance policy for frequent flyers." It adds that if every member completes a WINGS phase, many insurers "may offer a discount on your club’s insurance premium."

The insurers' own rate pages could not be read from here, so we quote no insurer's price. To budget the premium into the dues, how much a flying club costs shows how 17 clubs set their dues and rates.

In Europe

The two European clubs we read insure the same two things. KLM Aeroclub in the Netherlands: "Deze zijn zowel voor het casco (het vliegtuig zelf dus) als de aansprakelijkheid verzekerd." — hull and liability. The club insured passengers for €325,000 each and third parties for €4,000,000, then folded the passenger cover into one higher limit, "zodat theoretisch een passagier tot € 4.975.000,- uitgekeerd kan krijgen" — so that in theory a single passenger can claim up to that amount — and: "Inmiddels is dit laatste bedrag definitief op € 5.000.000,= gesteld." The club cites the EU rule as it reads it: "Volgens de Europese regelgeving moet een vliegtuig een verzekeringsdekking voor zijn passagiers hebben van SDR 250.000,- per zitplaats." In the UK, North Weald Flying Group includes the premium in its rates — "All aircraft are fully insured, and the premium is included in the hire and monthly rates." — and leaves the member the excess.

Running the club side

Insurance is where a club's rules, its dues and its records meet: the dues pay the premium, and the insurer's currency rule becomes a club rule. Pilot-Next handles the money and the schedule — dues every period, every settled flight on the member's account balance, and booking rules the club sets. It does not track insurance policies or pilots' documents; a club keeps its roster and checkout records alongside.