Aircraft Insurance Outlook: October 2026

Someone from Citation Jet Pilot (CJP) asked a good question.

“Are you able to share, or are you aware of, any anonymized data about the liability judgements or settlements that come out of light jet / turboprop accidents? My guess is that many or most of us fly around quite under insured there but it’s be nice to know exactly how horrible the gap is…. I think.”

I talked to a few head aviation underwriters and a claims adjuster about this.

Notes:
One head underwriter said 95%, probably closer to 99%, of bodily injury and wrongful death claims settle at policy limits. Going after personal assets is hard and expensive for the plaintiff’s attorney with LLCs, state protections, estate planning, etc. It would take something grossly negligent to go over limits. More on this below.

1. The claims manager said basically the same. In the light jet world it’s mostly the same group of plaintiff’s attorneys, everyone knows each other, and if you have a limit it’s usually settleable at that limit. Her words: “You can’t squeeze water out of a rock.” Several underwriters and claim adjusters have told me they haven’t had one claim go over policy limits.
2. If you’re using an LLC, run the airplane like a separate business: its own bank account, maintenance paid out of the LLC checkbook and not your personal account, meetings, etc. If not, the plaintiff’s attorney has a shot at piercing it. Some carriers have an aviation attorney who does a free call with their insureds to go over this, which tells you how much weight they put on it.
3. Where you see owners paying out of pocket is coverage problems, typically not big verdicts. Flying without a current medical, or going 18 months when the policy requires recurrent training every 12. Then the carrier defends you under a reservation of rights and you’ve got skin in the game.
4. Courts usually push mediation to settle at limits, but if it goes to a jury, anything goes. The huge verdicts almost always have some aggravating fact that makes the jury angry. Two examples, neither of them aircraft claims: a dancer paralyzed by a shelter collapse at O’Hare got a $148M verdict (the city had offered $
5. 30M
6. , then settled for $115M), and a United wing walker hit by a fuel van at Houston Intercontinental got $352M (cut to $235M, then settled). My head claims adjuster contact also mentioned a recent $75M verdict for one person in a helicopter crash in New York. They said helicopters are by far the worst for this, and it’s less common with turbojets and turboprops.
7. Sublimits hold up. Flight school policies are capped at $100K per person, plaintiffs have challenged that in court, and it hasn’t worked. That’s the limit.
8. Your policy covers defense, but once limits are paid out that generally ends. Check your policy. One senior adjuster also said he’s never dealt with an owner paying a personal settlement himself.
9. A lot depends on the specifics: jurisdiction, how many people were on board, whether it was just the pilot, whose airplane it was, who was operating it.

So from what I’m hearing, the bigger risk isn’t a jury blowing past your limit. It’s a coverage issues like expired medical, not flying within the FARs or breach of the pilot warranty or a sloppy LLC. It’s still worth making sure your limit fits your asset level.

Advice: The best way forward is to maintain a close relationship with your aviation insurance broker and underwriters so you get the best rates as things are changing.

Ben Peterson is a 15 year aviation insurance services professional, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor with over 1,000 hours instruction given, and former Cirrus Factory Instructor Pilot.