From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib)
Subject: Re: Insuring your events
Followup-To: rec.models.rc
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 03:21:07 GMT

In article <6223@transfer.stratus.com| cdt@sw.stratus.com (C. D. Tavares) writes:
|In article <Bu355B.Eux@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu|, ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib) writes:
|| In article <6171@transfer.stratus.com| cdt@sw.stratus.com (C. D. Tavares) writes:
|| 
|| |My advice is for you to contact Sport Flyers' Association.  They WILL
|| |cover your events.  AMA is no longer the only game in town, and if
|| |their service is anal-retentive, go elsewhere.  Contact Doug Pratt
|| |(76703.3041@compuserve.com) for more information.
|| 
|| Not if you happen to fly control-line. The SFA, in its infinite wisdom,
|| decided that C/L in any form was "too dangerous" and doesn't cover it. 
|| So even if you fly mostly R/C and fly that Sig Banshee once a year, don't
|| join the SFA!
|
|Doug responds, "SFA said no such thing."
|
|The major difference between SFA and AMA insurance is that SFA is a 
|"regulated carrier."  That means they have to play by the commercial rules.
|(For example, if you are insured with SFA and AMA, and have an accident,
|SFA insurance MUST pay FIRST.  The law requires it.)
|
|SFA had to get its underwriting on the commercial market.  To get this
|underwriting, you have to show the underwriters statistics on how risky
|the activity is (e.g., what claims have occurred in the past).  Obviously,
|the AMA was not going to share its claims data with SFA, so SFA had to get
|it elsewhere.  For R/C, they contacted the manufacturers of R/C equipment
|and got data from them on what they were paying for product liability 
|insurance, and talked with their insurers for risk data.  When they tried
|to do the same thing for C/L, they found that no manufacturer had C/L
|as a significant enough portion of his overall business that any useful
|data was available in this fashion.  For this reason, they were unable to
|find an underwriter for the C/L portion of the hobby.  However, they are
|in the process of collecting their OWN statistics on C/L from current
|activity, with the intent of being able to offer insurance for it in 
|the future.

I've set the followup line to rec.models.rc since the rocket people
might not want to follow this.


Fair's fair. My impression of the whole thing was based on a posting
in rec.models.rc a few months ago touting SFA. The person seemed to 
be quoting from some kind of SFA brochure and it said something about 
C/L having a bad safety record.

Still I find it strange that SFA will cover Free Flight, even assigning
a lower rate to those who fly certain kinds of Free Flight model. If 
they are having trouble gathering data on Control-Line, I wonder how
they got any data on Free Flight rubber. After all, if someone thinks 
there isn't any risk involved in flying rubber Free Flight, consider 
all the tree climbing and negotiating catwalks in blimp hangers when
retrieving the things, D/T fuses can set off fires, and ATV's can flip
over. There are several manufacturers who sell lots of C/L and FF kits,
including SIG.

I don't see why they couldn't just collect data on MODEL AVIATION in 
general and be done with it. After all, how far can we break down the 
sport? Will the 2-meter glider pilots be complaining that ducted fan
and quarter scale models are far more dangerous (which is intuitive
if not immediately provable) and demand that SFA charge less to cover 
2 meter gliders?  Wouldn't it be feasible to collect statistics on 
liability claims on Ugly Sticks and figure out a separate rate for 
Ugly Stick pilots? What happens if a 2 meter glider pilot also dabbles
in quarter scale once in a while? (You could say the same for Control-
Line). 

Still, at least at this point in time, if you fly _any_ control-line,
SFA is simply not a viable option. Besides, you don't get Model Avia-
tion with your membership, something I consider a high-value item.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib                          | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NTAIB@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU |    Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet:   NTAIB@IUBACS                 !
Newsgroups: rec.models.rockets