myriad factors feed into an underwriter’s premium-setting equation, especially in today’s market. Even as premiums rise, the cost of a claim is rising too,


from 30% to 150%, according to Gardner. Pandemic- fueled supply chain issues make parts difficult and expensive to obtain. Advanced technology, from composite materials to state-of- the-art avionics, is expensive to repair and replace. Tird-party– backed litigation is driving up legal costs. And like other businesses, insur- ance companies are raising their premiums to offset inflationary pressures. “We have several


7


converging black swan events—the pan- demic, the Ukraine war, and the fact that Russia has impounded several hundred airplanes. Te insurance companies are looking at a very large potential payout,” says Gardner.


Operators: How to Lower Your Insurance Costs


“Te better your maintenance, the better your pilots, the


better your training, the better you are at making operational decisions, the more command and control you have, the more standardization you have, and the more adherence by your senior management to those standards—all these factors can lower your risk and make you a better risk to an underwriter,” Gardner says.


Ways to Reduce Your Insurance Premiums


q Cultivate a relationship with an underwriter rather than price hop


e Increase knowledge and skills training for staff r Establish a meticulous maintenance program t Implement an SMS


w Raise the amount of your deductible


y Standardize procedures and operational decision-making


u Ensure management fully supports and adheres to


safety standards


As an example, private pilots could dramatically reduce their helicopter accidents, and even- tually their insurance premiums, by add- ing structure to their aeronautical decision-making through the use of


a flight risk assess- ment tool. Private and com-


mercial rotorcraft oper- ators could make major strides in mitigating risk by improving their safety culture and implementing a robust safety management system (SMS). HAI members should visit rotor.org/safety


to access a variety of affordable SMS options and flight


Given this increasingly difficult insurance landscape, can helicopter operators do anything to lower their individual premiums? Yes, to a degree, says Gardner, who recommends that operators take various steps to reduce their operational risk.


risk assessment tools. Another path to reducing risk is to institute a more metic- ulous maintenance program. For example, Saleh et al. found that, from 2005 to 2015, flawed maintenance and inspections were causal factors in 14% to 21% of US civil helicopter


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