What we all have to do is stop messing around with pistons if we are going above 10k feet and just buy ourselves King Airs. Wouldn't it be fun if we all could afford to be chugging along in our King Airs.

Alex, you may be trainable after all.

Looks like I'll have motivation to get back to Beechcraft after this student pilot incident on Thursday. Anyone know of a nice King Air? I'm not sure on posting pics.

My 340 was parked and got tagged on the port side, with the airplane swinging around the back side, taking the tail with the prop as it went by and finally the Cherokee ended up halfway through the starboard wing between the tip and the engine nacelle. No one injured but the student pilot now has a story and I'm grounded.

This is not what you want to see.

Scott,

Ouch! How did the student pilot explain that? Hope you get back in the air soon.

Kevin

Ouch!

That's not going to buff out that easily. Hope you're able to work it out.

Look at the bright side - time for a King Air!

I wasn't there and have only talked to insurance carriers which tells me this isn't going to get finalized for several weeks, at best. If you depend on airplanes for your business as I do, the most expensive and troubling part of this equation is lack of use as I utilized the 340, 30+\- a month. I just got a quote for charter for my needs next week, $9,500 for a C90! They quoted me a 350 too and it was only a $180 higher because of speed and distance. I thought that was interesting.

I'm going to be forced to own two airplanes as I don't see any chance for settlement for a minimum of a couple months. That of course is assuming they total the airplane and cash me out. If they require me to fix it then we'll end up going down a whole different path as I'm not flying that again nor will I wait around for the months it's going to take to get it airworthy. Besides the economic impact of loss of use and the no longer "no damage" airframe.

I'm not optimistic and not looking forward to the next few weeks and my travel problems. I took having an airplane for granted and realizing how they change your life for the better. Now I get to live the other side for a while.

Scott,

I would suggest you look around for a long term lease agreement. Depending on your mission get the minimum required while you deal with issue or get what your next upgrade will be to start the transition.

Good luck, looks like you kissed a very nice plane.

Tim

I'm fairly certain they will total that one. Sorry for the loss.

Stephen,

Which model King Air do you own/use for training?

Best,

Ouch, that really really sucks.

Scott,
Wow, sorry for your loss.

For the insurance guys: If the plane is deemed repairable it will be down a long time. If so, how difficult will it be for Scott to be compensated by the insurance company for loss of use?

If Scott's airplane is a total, in theory there's no loss of use because he can take his hull payment and buy another airplane. Then his carrier would subrogate against the student's carrier.

If Scott's airplane is repaired, and he has a good policy, he should have coverage for renting a substitute aircraft while his is down. Sometimes that coverage is limited to the "extra expense" over and above the hourly cost of operating his own airplane. It may also be limited in time, such as 60 or 90 days after the accident. Good like finding something like a 340 to rent.

Ultimately it is the student's responsibility to make Scott whole, including loss of use, but student/renter pilot liability coverage often has low limits, like $100,000, which probably won't even cover the repairs. Can the student afford to make up the difference out of his own pocket? Probably not.

Hopefully Scott has enough hull coverage to replace his airplane, and hopefully it's a total. It is not likely that he will be fully compensated under any other scenario.

Even though a student this looks unbelievably stupid. What happened that the student lost control of the plane on the ground like that?