Flying Instructors & Life Insurance

Applying for life insurance when you are a flying instructor can be straightforward but it can also sometimes be tricky. This is because you are often working at great height and if something goes wrong with the aircraft, or something in the environment plays us, you can quickly be in a risky situation.

Our advisers will ask you the following questions:

• What type of craft are you flying?
• Do you every fly solo?
• How many hours do you spend in the air each year?
• How much of your average working week is spent in the air?
• How many air hours do you have to date?

Life insurance for flying instructors might be available at standard terms if you approach the right insurance provider and are based within the UK.

If you work abroad it is possible that the insurer may offer you non-standard terms (premium increase). This will be decided upon the countries that you fly in and how much time you spend outside of the UK each year.

If you are a reservist in the armed forces this may impact upon the terms of life insurance available to you and it’s a good idea to discuss this with one of our insurance advisers.

If you are a member of the armed forces please visit our dedicated page here.

Critical illness cover pays out a cash lump sum of money, if you are diagnosed with a medical condition that is listed in the insurer’s claims set e.g. cancer, heart attack, stroke.

Critical illness cover for flying instructors may be available at normal terms with some insurers. There is not one specific insurer that is the go to place for your application, each person is assessed on a case by case basis. Our advisers research the market to find you the greatest chance of getting standard terms for critical illness cover.

Where standard terms are not available because of your flying, you may find that an occupational exclusion is placed on the policy claims set. This will mean that should you be diagnosed with a critical illness whilst at work you will be unable to make a claim on the policy. Whilst this does not sound ideal it is important to note that many conditions that are claimable within a critical illness policy are not the kinds of conditions that could be caused by your occupation as a flying instructor e.g. cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons etc.

Income protection pays you a replacement of your monthly income, if you are unable to work due to ill health.

Income protection for flying instructors may be available with some insurers, but you will need to ensure that you place your application with a specific insurance provider. To be able to do your job you need to be in really good health, so there are more situations where what might be considered a relatively mild illness or injury, could stop you flying. That is why we need to make sure that your income protection application goes to an insurer that is supportive of flying instructors.

Your income protection application will need to detail the airspace that you fly within, the amount of air time you fly in any given year and if you have had any extended periods of time off work in the past.

You should try and get an ‘own occupation’ definition for the cover as any claim that you place will be based upon your ability to work as a flying instructor. Alternative definitions of ability to work are ‘suited occupation’ or ‘any occupation’ in which you will be assessed on your capacity to work in any like job or any job at all, respectively.

Any income protection policies you apply for will come with a deferment period of 1 day, 1 week, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 13 weeks, 26 weeks or 52 weeks. This is the time in which you must wait before you can place a claim on you policy, from the moment that you are unable to work. When selecting the deferment period for your policy you should consider any employee benefits that you have, savings that are in place and your budget for the policy. Our insurance providers are able to help you determine which deferment period best suits your individual circumstances.

The last thing that you want to do when going on holiday is worry about whether your travel insurance is setup right. To speak with a specialist travel insurance broker, please visit our dedicated page here.