Last Sunday on the evening Local News there was an item about a group of model Glider flyers, who had a nasty mishap. The man involved was flying a Electric Powered Glider, and he suffered a signal loss and subsequent " Fly Away" No failsafe it seemed, The errant model flew over a kilometre until it struck overhead power cables, there was a blinding flash and the stricken model fell to the ground, burning fiercly. It crashed in a field of wheat, ready for harvest.The stalks were dry and burst into flames, before the Fire Brogade arrived the fire had spread rapidly and nearly half the field was destroyed, the rest was deemed not viable to harvest. Now there is the question, "Who pays??" Is the owner of the model liable or his club? It seems the model was fitted with Lipos and the Fire Brigade was unable to extinguish them with water, but we know that don't we? Knotty problem, and a warning that it can happen to any of us, Insurance is important!
If any of you can understand German, if you go to www.aktuellestunde.de and go on to last Sundays programme you can see the video yourselves.
Okay, there seems to be some ignorance about insurance here, (I'm referring to most of the posts so far, not just the first that I've quoted here), so I think a few explanations are needed.
Firstly the caveat - this is how things work under UK law - Germany is similar, but not sure if the 'Failsafe rule' applies the same as it does here.
1. Who's liable for the cost of the damage? - to be decided either by your insurers or a court of law
if a claim is made against you.
2. General flying - under the Air Navigation Order, the operator of any aircraft is responsible for ensuring the flight can be made in a safe manner, (yes, the same rule applies to a toy as it does to a 747).
3. Failsafes - if a model aircraft weight over 7kg dry, (minus fuel), it
must have a failsafe that will reduce the throttle to idle as a minimum. If the radio control unit has a failsafe built in then it must be operable, irrespective of model size.
4. Insurance - if you have it, the only one you need is
third party liability insurance.
5. How does it work - quite simple really, you have an accident that involves a third party, (person or property, makes no difference).
The third party makes a claim against you, so you pass it onto your insurers, they will investigate, and if you are liable for any damages they will pay up.
Sometimes this decision will be made in a court of law, other times they will 'accept' liability on your behalf.
The only time they
can refuse to pay up if liability is determined - is when it's a deliberate or illegal act, (but they will usually pay up to the third party and then come after you for the money
)
Now the important bit to remember if you are liable, you or your insurers will pay up, if you are not liable then they won't pay. It's why its called 'liability' insurance.
BMFA provide £10M of liability insurance, IIRC the LMA and MAA provide the same level.
BMFA cover extends to model boats too and also provides Crown Indemnity.
The amount of cover you need is decided/agreed by your landowner - usually the local council for ponds/lakes and seems to be the £5M figure - shows/events looks to be the £10M figure.
Incidentally, the highest payout by the BMFA insurers was for an accident involving a paper airplane, (you know, the type you fold up from a sheet of paper), where the injured party lost the sight in one eye.
Mark.