I have a 7AC Champ. My son is an ATP, ex A-10 pilot, -approx. 3,000 hours, now flying for the airlines. He has a tailwheel endorsement but hasn't flown a Taildragger in years. We plan to get him with an instructor to get recurrent. Any idea what the additional premium should be? Hard to believe but my premium on the Champ for just me is around $1000 annually or about the same as my Deb and I am very current in taildraggers.

I'm no insurance expert, but I did go from 2000 hours in high-performance nose-wheel singles to my first tailwheel plane last year. I had just 5 hours in a Champ and my fresh tailwheel endorsement.

My I0-550R Debonair cost me about 1700 to fully insure (for 130,000).
My first year in the -- tailwheel -- RV-6 was 2300 (for 80,000).
I just paid for my second year (after 175 hours of TW time-in-type) and it's 1000.

The way I understand it.....if he's a named pilot, your premium should be based on him....not you.

Hi Robert
The best person to answer this question is your broker but generally speaking I wouldn't expect him to impact your premium much if at all given his overall time, tail wheel experience etc. He will likely have to complete a checkout however. If he was a low time private pilot with no tailwheel time or endorsement then yes the impact could be more substantial.

Thanks Tom and Arlen!

can't imagine a champ costing that much to insure annually.
gary

It does. I've checked with other Champ owners and they are paying the same.

I pay $900 for my taildragger (Valued at $23k) which includes a $150 upcharge to allow my daughter to fly it as a student pilot. That rate requires membership in the Antique Aircraft Association ($30/yr) and is a special deal through the AAA.

could be some locations have higher rates, my cub insured for 60 is 800(not smooth).
gary

Just renewed but going to definitely check around next year!

I could total the champ and rebuild it for maybe 15K to be showpiece. No way am I going to pay to insure it, that's a bit like insuring a lawnmower. The only coverage on ours is not-in-motion liability required by the hangar owner where it sometimes resides.

Does Tasmania have some special aircraft rules or lack of rules? If I put my 120 on its nose I'd be out $15k before the engine and prop were fixed.
My hangar neighbor just finished a champ rebuild, he would have to get $40k to get his money back out of it.

Greg

Mine won best Champ at Oshkosh. Couldn't come close to duplicating it for $15k. Lastly, got three of us that have spent years driving jets and turboprops with nose wheels. Believe I'll keep it insured until we all decide there's no way we'll ever groundloop a taildragger!

You hit the nail on the head Robert - the number one claim with tailwheel airplanes is ground loop damage. Many many many 10,000 plus hrs ex-military, airline or corporate types have done it and many more will .

Mine is in kansas. I have about $12K in it. Covered it myself. If it got ground looped, no big deal that's a little wingtip woodwork and some fabric. When I bought it and brought it home on a trailer I had to do groundloop damage on both wings. It would never occur to me that being an insurance claim but i guess if you're not a tinkerer as a hobby, maybe. Doing a wingtip is a few weekend evenings, more fun than going to a bar or watching TV.

Looking forward to getting back into mine when we move back. I'll have to try and find its engine, when we moved out of the country I loaned it to a local kid who was finishing a flybaby project and ran out of money. Couldn't bear to see a teenager with the aviation bug get stopped in his tracks while I had an engine that was going to be sitting in a barn rusting.

Well, if your Champ is missing it's engine I can see why you might not need insurance. Very little chance of a ground loop in the hangar.