It's a lot more complex than that in the insurance aspects. I was
just forced out of flying primarily by the insurance situation.
Here's a fix on the current situation:
Cost to add boating endorsement to our catastrophic liability umbrella
policy: $31 and a quick phone call.
Cost to add the same for aviation: $675 and requirements for
underlying insurance that no one in the real world could meet
effectively insulating the umbrella carriers from aviation risks.
This isn't so much a measure of actual risk but of tort jury behavior.
Juries tend to think that flying is crazy so you are guilty before you
leave the ground.
Highly trained and careful pilot goes out and gets in over his head in
unexpectedly bad weather when some otherwise minor problems distract
him. Four people die. Guy with more bucks than brains goes out and
buys too much powerboat and heads of with zero training and crashes it
drunk. Four people die. Juries will hand out about ten times as much
money in the first case. Insurance rates reflect this.
The risk to insurers is measured by the $31 / $675 ratio above but
that has little to do with the level of risk to the individuals in
either a boat or an airplane.
--
Roger Long
"Gary" wrote in message
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4aYf.216280$H%4.84486@pd7tw2no...
Roger Long wrote:
In the plane, I'm talking to a guy constantly who is looking at the
radar and advising my of the location of any traffic within about
10 miles, even the stuff that I could never hit but which might
just worry and distract me if I saw it. In the boat, I'm trying to
be psychic and figure out by their behavior which of the yahoos in
30 plus foot fast power boats actually know the right of way rules
and are sober enough see my boat. Meanwhile, I'm trying to
navigate, keep kids fingers from running around winches and into
blocks, heads below boom level, short tack and steer a quick
turning boat with a big Genoa while avoiding lobster pots,
navigation buoys, anchored fisherman, and other boats.
Again, I'm curious. Are you a pilot?
An interesting discussion Roger. I'm not a pilot. I always assumed
that flying was more dangerous than sailing but I get your point.
Flying really is quite safe. I think it would be interesting to see
what the insurance folks think. How many folks are killed/injured
and how many liability claims are made regarding boating compared to
flying? The fact that flying is closely regulated is what makes it
very safe. Boating, being very unregulated, is probably a bigger
risk for insurers. It is probably the insurers who will ultimately
drive licensing because eventually they won't insure unlicensed
boaters.
Gary