Insurance for pilots

Aviation is one of the few activities that most New Zealand policies exclude by default rather than rate. The exclusion usually attaches to death or disability arising from flying other than as a fare-paying passenger, and the scope varies: some wordings capture only certain kinds of flying, others are broad. For a professional pilot, a policy with an unmodified aviation exclusion is close to useless, because it excludes the thing most likely to happen at work.

Whether the exclusion can be removed, narrowed or converted into a loading depends on the insurer and on the flying. Airline transport operations with an established carrier are a very different proposition from agricultural topdressing, helicopter work in the mountains, or instructing. Hours, type ratings, operation type and experience all matter, and the answers differ between insurers enough that shopping the risk is not optional.

The larger issue for most pilots is not the crash. It is the medical certificate. Holding a CAA medical certificate is a condition of flying commercially, and the standards cover cardiac conditions, diabetes, neurological conditions, vision, hearing and mental health. A pilot who loses their certificate has lost their career and is, in general employment terms, entirely capable of working.

That is a definitional problem. Under an own-occupation disability definition, being medically unfit to hold the certificate your job requires goes directly to inability to perform your occupation. Under an any-occupation definition it usually does not. Separately, specialist loss-of-licence cover exists precisely for this scenario and is arranged differently from ordinary income protection.

There are three separate questions here and they are often conflated.

These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.

• The exact aviation exclusion wording, and whether it can be removed, narrowed or replaced with a loading.
• Whether the exclusion applies to all benefits or only to claims arising directly from flying.
• Whether your disability definition responds to loss of a medical certificate.
• How your flying is characterised — commercial airline, charter, agricultural, helicopter, instructing, private.
• Hours flown annually and aircraft types, both of which are standard underwriting questions.
• Any existing airline or industry scheme cover, including loss-of-licence arrangements.

Every New Zealand insurer writes cover for pilots to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.

• Very few insurers will consider commercial aviation on unmodified terms, and which ones will depends on the type of flying. That knowledge is not published.
• Loss-of-licence cover sits in a specialist market and is arranged differently from ordinary income protection.
• Private pilots are often quoted an exclusion when a modest loading would have been available. It has to be asked for.
• Where an airline scheme exists, personal cover should be built around it rather than duplicating it.

There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.

The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.

• An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
• An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
• An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
• An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.

We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.

1. 1

   You tell us what you are looking at

   The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.

2. 2

   An adviser calls you

   A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.

3. 3

   They compare the market

   The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.

4. 4

   You decide, in your own time

   There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.