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New Jersey operator licensing
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 / $675 ratio above but that has little to do with the level of risk to the individuals in either a boat or an airplane. -- Roger Long "Gary" wrote in message news4aYf.216280$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 |
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