Avemco Insurance has announced that rates for Cirrus aircraft will drop from 10 to 30 percent depending on model, and the insurance cost for Diamond DA42 Twin Star will be cut by 30 percent thanks to a better than expected loss record. Vice president of aviation insurance underwriting Jim Lauerman said at Sun 'n Fun that the rates were likely artificially high to begin with because they're new aircraft and there was no data to base them on. Now that the fleets have significant hours on them, the company has determined the rates are unnecessarily high. The company is also reducing the qualifications needed before pilots can even buy insurance, particularly in higher performance, more complex aircraft. For instance, he said, as long as the required training is taken, the company will underwrite a student pilot in a Cirrus SR22.
Lauerman said the company continues to pursue training and safety programs aimed at getting to the heart of most aviation accidents, namely the actions of the pilot. He said they're trying to identify the personality traits and characteristics of higher risk pilots. The company is also involved with BuildAPlane, the non-profit group that supplies mostly unserviceable aircraft to school shop classes. Avemco donated 20 seawater inundated aircraft from Hurricane Katrina to the program.
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