Life Insurance for Canadian Pilots

Well folks, it's insurance time... My previous employer "divested" a bunch of us and our new employer's group life insurance rates are horrific. I'm now looking outside our group plan for life insurance but have hit a bit of an obstacle in that many insurers want to charge an additional 120% of the basic premium to cover me when acting as aircrew. There's no way that combining the cost of insuring the aircraft itself and the additional cost of life insurance to act as a pilot will go over with my "chief financial officer".

Is there any economical means of obtaining life insurance as a pilot in Canada? I'd appreciate any information or tips you might be able to offer. Unfortunately no US insurers can sell in the Canadian market so this question really is geography-specific.

Thanks in advance for your well-considered responses.

I don't know if this will help or not...

When I first started flying, I checked with my employer to see if the plan they had covered me while I was a pilot. Turns out it didn't. But the HR person called the life insurance company, and the company said they could add that coverage to our company's policy at no cost, and that now all employees would be covered. Mind you, this was pre-9/11, but we were still a 2000 person company at that point.

Scoot forward 15 years and three jobs and none of them since had a company policy for life insurance that covered me as a pilot. In that time i've been without any life insurance while flying. Not much choice, really. One employer, who I called to the table because I disclosed that I was a pilot during the interview and asked specifically about life insurance and was promised it, eventually said that they would replace me before they paid the premium increase. But don't forget that whatever policies you do get through your employer are valid while you're *not* flying, even if you do fly sometimes.

However, I did luck out this year. I renewed my mortgage with Scotiabank. and it turns out that the life insurance policy they offer COVERS PILOTS! So i'm covered now even though I occasionally fly these extremely dangerous banged-together-in-a-basement homemade aircraft.

life $$$

same here,
a bit of luck, I bought a policy when i was inactive in 1989, so it remains in force.
my new additional $$$ one excludes me for the 22 hours a year I am in the air. just one of those risk things.
i had to fill out a 'risk' assessment form.........hilarious.
it listed mountain climbing as risky, but not aerobatics in a homebuilt hydrogen zeppelin in a thunderstorm.
It asked if I PLANNED to do anything risky in the future.

yeah, they really have it ALL figured out.
I have to check my mortgage insurance now!!!

thanks for the reminder guys! Doesn't hurt to check those small $50/yr. policies that they tag on to every Canadian tire credit card etc....some may not be so fussy if they are only worth $25,000. Just get 10 or 20 of those, and you're all set!

I hate insurance.

Hi there:

Check with Sunlife insurance, I recently purchased a term life insurance policy from them to act as mortgage insurance. The fact that I was a pilot and building an homebuilt aircraft did not increase the premium at all.


hope this helps, terry.

terry.mortimore said:

Check with Sunlife insurance, I recently purchased a term life insurance policy from them to act as mortgage insurance. The fact that I was a pilot and building an homebuilt aircraft did not increase the premium at all.

Click to expand...

YMMV. One of the companies I worked for used Sun Life, and the policy specifically excluded acting as pilot-in-command. But not rock climbing or riding a motorcycle, two other things that I do that aren't risky at all...

Can life insurance

Feel free to im me, and I will give you my personal email. I am a cfp,advisor and life agent in Ontario. Happy to suggest a few firms that are pretty fair to deal with.
The pilot issue is no biggie at all. The issue that is a stickler is "homebuilt". Fly a cessna and you will get standard rates. Homebuilt is apparently a death trap but, there are some options you have.

The ideal thing is to have it in place prior to being a pilot, but...there are ways to get it done if that is obviously not an option. Accidental death like on credit cards is pretty much worthless. You want a good, bullet proof policy that covers you 100% for sure with no exemptions so that if the unthinkable happens your loved ones are set. Dont lie or forget things and dont assume your existing policies are good if you are a pilot...check the fine print...make it all bullet proof and proper.

Cheers.

COPA?

You might want to check with Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA). It advertises a life insurance policy on its website, and I expect that it would probably not contain a flying restriction.
Bill Brooks
Ottawa, Canada
RV6A finishing kit

Thanks for having taken the time to respond, folks. I've checked my current group insurance benefits and it may turn out they're the cheapest for the next 5 years (until I hit 50) then they start to get silly on pricing. Just as a heads-up, some SunLife group policies don't have an aviation exclusion (the one with my previous employer had no such exclusion) while some groups insured with SunLife DO have an aviation exclusion. Same goes for Manulife. My current employer's coverage through Manulife is expensive but it doesn't have an aviation exclusion which is a good thing. Buying a Manulife policy as an individual means they want to hit you up with a huge surcharge for an aviation rider - I had suggested it was premium + 120% but in fact it's premium + 160%, so that's definitely going to be a no-go. COPA's group insurance is through SunLife and is very non-restrictive with respect to aviation, but they're the most expensive rate I've found so far. As is always the case, adding the word "homebuilt" in describing the airplane you fly has a significant upward impact on premium pricing with all the insurers I've contacted so far. As a community we need to work on the safety statistics that drive our airplanes into a much higher risk catagory.

That's odd... I've never seen an insurance application that makes a distinction between certified and amateur-built aircraft. All the exclusions i've seen have been blanket to acting as PIC, or they don't mention it at all. If they don't specifically exclude you as PIC or while flying an amateur-built, then you're covered.

Exclusions

Many of the big carriers... RBC as an example, very clearly seperate certified flying from homebuilt flying and want a break down of hours for each annually. ( see rbc aviation questionnaire 86294 08/2009)
Equitable wants to know if you have flown or INTEND on flying experimental etc on their avaition questionnaire.

Just ensure you know the fine print not just the "sign here" stuff that some agents may state is fine but can cause headaches and unpaid claims. Bad life insurance is much worse than NO life insurance.

Watch out guys... I found a little surprise with Sun Life and Manulife Financial. I was with SunLife before and did not have any exclusions. Now, I changed job and I'm with Manulife (Manuvie)

Being a pilot does not increase anything but it is part of some exception. In my case (life insurance and long-trem disability insurance on salary) if the death/disability is caused by an aircraft accident in which I was part of the crew, they won't cover if the flight is not a commercial flight.

Short term disability did not have this clause.

So, if I crash my RV or a rented spam cam, 3 things can happen :
1)I break my back and can't work for 2 months : OK
2)I break my back and can't work for 4 months : not OK
3)I die : not OK


Kind of weird...