Hi, I am Gary Wilson. Just joined. Have heard of this group years ago and never got around to joining. Rick Galvin reminded me of the good stuff I am missing.

Well, I just turned 68 and have owned 9 Beechcraft products over a span of almost 40 years. Been flying for almost 60 having soloed a cub when I was 10. Thats a good story. Have a little over 10,000 hours and currently own a V-35B with all the Mike Smith mods, including a relief tube; which really comes in handy. I live in two worlds. Georgia and Maryland, and go back and forth. My interest these days are getting up and going somewhere.

As we age, my other interest is how the insurance companies are going to treat us aging pilots; especially if a claim is made that is not related to a pilots mistake.......Mechanical issue.

Thats it for now. Thoughts on the aging pilot/ Insurance????

Welcome Gary,
It might turn out that your question gets missed hiding in the introduction forum. I will be tuned in to the responses because aging is my biggest vice; it’s gonna kill me someday.

Hi Gary and welcome to BT.

What I have seen, when pilots hit 70 many have to get a yearly check out with an instructor. Probably depends on the carrier and is a way of making sure a person's cognitive ability is up to the task.

I can tell you as a second party to a dad who was a pilot into his 80s, I couldn’t tell any functional differences as he got older. He’d do a check ride now and then, and that would always go well. His medical always came back fine. The only thing that was a complete debacle was when the nose gear on his Baron collapsed, and the plane was totaled. He was 76 at the time, and he was insured with Avemco. They compensated him for the insured amount, but they terminated their relationship with him and said they wouldn’t insure him for another forty years when he was 116. Dealing with the FAA was another problem, and he ended up voluntarily relinquishing his multi engine IFR rating to get them off his back. He thought the NTSB’s pilot error ruling was hogwash, and that contributed to the way things turned out. He ended up getting another plane and getting another insurer so things could have worked out indefinitely. Wish I had more details or I could ask him. Moral of the story is don’t crash. Hope this helps.

I am 68 and have had 3 claims in 5 years. The first was a claim to reskin the bottom of my wing where the shop ran a tool box into the bottom of the wing. The insurance company paid the claim and did nothing to go after the shop that did the deal on a subrogation. The second was in my T-34 when after 15 hours after an extensive annual and $40,000 amoc the nose gear retract rod failed. The insurance "snarkily" paid the claim, and they did not go after the shop. I kept the nose gear retract rod and it was cracked where it broke and it was all rusty. The shop missed it. The third was when a bathtub fitting popped off in flight and hit the tail. $8500 to change out the right stabilator. In all 3 cases no pilot error, in fact the FAA said I did a fantastic job to mitigate the damage on the T-34 incident. Then the insurance carrier sent me a non-renewal. Got the MD Dept. of insurance involved and they renewed my policy. However, I have over 10,000 hours and no accidents or claims in 40+ years (execpt for these 3 claims). I used the insurance for what it was intended and did not cause any of this.........but they cancel/non-renew when you make a claim. So, I am thinking that it will not get any better for anyone if they make a claim. In hindsight, probably should have eaten the 2 smaller claims. Am I paranoid or just unlucky????

Were that the case, I don't think you'd be around to post on BT. Perhaps you meant a wing bolt cover?