Helicopter Insurance

[slick1537]

I was wondering how helicopter insurance works. Also, if you bought a helicopter you would have to have %100 coverage on it for the life of the loan, I am guessing this is kind of like having full coverage on your car or motorcycle. How much does this kind of insurance usually run? Not that I am thinking about buying a helicopter, but wondering what kind of cost a flight school has to cover that makes training so expensive.

[apiaguy]

about $17000 per year for a flight school with a single helicopter... can vary down to 12k if you're lucky or up to 20 something depending on how many helicopters.

That would be for a typical piston trainer R22 or 300.

 

The insurance that is so expensive is the Hull coverage (the cost to replace the damaged helicopter)

Liability insurance isn't that bad and isn't much worse than fixed wing liability.... only about 2k of the above quoted numbers..... so every year you're paying 10-15k for the possibility of balling up the helicopter.... or just dinging it.

[Lance Turbue]

RHC ( www.robinsonheli.com )has some example numbers in their operational cost calculation for the choppers. But I think it would also depend on who's flying and what (200h pilots -> more expensive than 300h or 1000h or xxxh)

 

Cheers,

Lance