So
you fly a plane and you need life
insurance. Your hobby or
profession throws a little wrinkle in
the decision for selecting term life but
you don't have to give it up.
There are options depending on how often
you fly and in what capacity.
Let's take a look at how being a pilot
affects your life insurance options.
Let's start with the basics. Most
good pilots know that their risk from
flying is considerably less than driving
a car so there's a kneejerk reaction
from pilot's we speak with that a
stricter requirement is unfair.
They're probably correct but
unfortunately, that's the market.
Flying a plane is lumped in with
hang-gliding and a host of other
activities that are deemed to be more
risky than the average. So how
exactly does a life insurance company
look at your flying activity?
Some carriers will avoid pilots
altogether so it's important to contact
us with your particular situation so we
can help you avoid wasting time on a
carrier that frowns upon the activity.
One big determinant is the amount of
hours clocked annually. With the
life insurance companies that do
underwrite pilots, annual flight hours
of between 75 and 200 hours is usually
priced at Tier 2 or the Standard rate
based solely on this one criteria.
This means that a very health person
with no other issues who flies in this
range is usually looking at the Standard
health tier at best. Other health
issues can bring the tier down from
here.
For a pilot with over 200 annual flight
hours, they will typically receive a
"flat extra" pricing which is a premium
amount assigned per thousand dollar of
life insurance face amount.
Some life insurance plans have an
Aviation Exclusion Rider. This
basically states that should the insured
pass away in an aviation-related
accident other than as a fare-paying
passenger on a scheduled airline, the
policy will not pay out the life benefit
at all. A pilot should never take
out a policy that includes an Aviation
rider for obvious reasons.
Usually, the fact that a person flies is
part of the reason they want to buy life
insurance in the first place.
Since the risk associated with being a
pilot is removed, the premium will be
lower for similar health situations.
Again, we recommend against a policy
with this addendum for pilots.
It's a risky bet to try forecast how a
person might pass away.
Being a pilot doesn't affect the
term life versus
whole life decision since the
root need is the same...to replace lost
income due to death. The fact that
a person flies just makes the need that
more relevant but term life still
provides the most affordable way to
insure against this and all risks of
passing away early.
There are distinctions between being a
private pilot and a commercial pilot as
well. The hours flown still come
into play but our choice of carrier
changes depending on your status as a
private or commercial pilot.
Again, this is where our experience as
licensed
life insurance
brokers comes into play.
There will be a set of questions we will
first ask to establish which way to go.
If you just quote blindly, you'll likely
need to start over since our range of
available carriers narrows significantly
as a pilot. You can complete our
Term life needs
form to start the process and
make sure to note your pilot status
(commercial or private), hours logged
annually, and years experience flying.
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