Most General Aviation accidents are minor. But it pays to know what to do if it turns out more serious…
Words Annabel Cook
24 August 2022
Flying of any kind carries risk. Everything is geared to minimising that risk, but there is always a chance that something will go wrong. Fortunately, most accidents or incidents are minor. But, if something does go wrong, what happens next?
Let’s make a few assumptions: you’re in the UK, you have no injuries and there are no third parties involved.
Unless you need to call the fire service, before you do anything else, make the aircraft safe and consider contacting the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). Strictly speaking, this only needs to happen if you have an ‘accident or serious incident’ which are defined here. But, if you’re not sure, contact AAIB and let them decide. They might treat it as an administrative exercise, but failure to report when you should have done could be seen as a cover-up. Better not to take the risk! You should also consider whether you need to notify the police.
You might also need to call Distress & Diversion (D&D) if you carry an Emergency Locator Transmitter, as it is designed to activate on high impact or contact with water. It’s important to stand D&D down quickly if it doesn’t need to initiate emergency procedures.
Get photos and videos of what has happened. Recover any data logging devices, such as GPS. When you get home, make backups and put everything somewhere safe.
If you’re at an airfield, talk to staff. If not, ask a member of the public. Get contact details for several people, if you can. Do this early before they realise there’s nothing to see and leave. When you’re talking to them, remember that insurers will normally require that you don’t admit liability as it might invalidate your insurance.
If you’re at a staffed airfield, someone has probably already told the person in charge! The airfield might have its own incident forms or other records that need to be completed.
Unless it’s for safety reasons, don’t move your aircraft until you’ve spoken to the AAIB. When you have their permission, get everything off the runway so the airfield can re-open.
A staffed airfield might have established recovery procedures. Equally, many don’t, or haven’t thought about it in detail. Speak up if you see something isn’t right. Inappropriate retrieval can cause more damage than the accident!
Follow your insurer’s claims notification process, which varies, and will be outlined somewhere in your paperwork. It’s normally the policyholder who will make the call. It’s important to do it asap, as the insurers will guide you through the process.
When it comes to explaining what happened, honesty is vital. If you’ve made a mistake or error of judgement, that’s OK. If you are dishonest, you will be found out and the chances are high that you will end up in trouble. Aviation insurers want to help their clients… make sure you let them.
It might take time to agree what will happen with the aircraft, so make it secure and weatherproof to avoid additional damage.
If you fly a glider, microlight or Permit aircraft, let the relevant governing body know. The British Gliding Association (BGA) and British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) have a responsibility for collecting information on incidents and accidents. The Light Aircraft Association (LAA) also appreciate receiving information that could be useful to members. Consider whether you should submit a Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR) or a Voluntary Occurrence Report (VOR) to the CAA.
If it’s a minor bump, think before making a claim. The costs of your excess and impact on future premiums could be more than you think. Even if you decide not to claim, any significant incident should be notified to your insurer. For example, you don’t know what damage might be uncovered when repairs begin.
If you do claim, the insurers will weigh up the potential costs. If they are likely to be high, they will appoint a loss adjuster who now becomes your point of contact.
You will be presented with vast amounts of paperwork to complete. Copies of personal and aircraft documentation will be needed, to make sure you hold the appropriate qualifications and insurance cover.
Once the loss adjuster has seen your paperwork, they will decide whether the incident is insured. Unless it’s clear that it’s a write-off, they might send an engineer to see the aircraft, although many loss adjusters are pilots or engineers themselves. If needed, they will arrange recovery.
The loss adjuster will produce a factual report for the insurer. Unlike the AAIB, it is not a report of what the pilot ‘says’ happened. Their responsibility is to the underwriter and the client to ensure the claim is handled fairly. However, if you’re not getting on with them, the underwriter can appoint someone else. Everyone will want to get things underway, so your relationship is vital.
The aircraft owner can suggest an appropriate maintenance company, or the loss adjuster can make a recommendation. Repairs to LAA and BMAA aircraft may need to be approved by their engineering teams, so give them a call.
If you are lucky enough to be flying a new aircraft, check whether it’s under guarantee. If it is, contact the manufacturers who may come and assess the damage and provide a list of repairs.
Flying schools and other organisations which are hiring for reward or teaching must use a Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation (CAMO) for repairs.
The loss adjuster will liaise with the engineers and check that estimates for repairs are reasonable.
Most policies are for an ‘agreed value’. If your aircraft is insured for £50k, that’s what it’s worth. Once the estimates from the engineers are in, the aircraft will be repaired if the quotes are less than around two-thirds to three-quarters of that agreed value. The details will depend on the wording of your policy.
If the estimate is close to the agreed value, you might be offered a ‘cash in lieu’ payment. The insurers give you the money, and you take the risk of arranging repairs – and dealing with any unexpected issues.
If the loss adjuster declares the aircraft a write off, the insurers will pay the agreed value (minus excess of course). The loss adjuster then agrees with the insurers whether there’s any salvage value. At this point, the aircraft owner can submit an offer to buy the aircraft back. Your loss adjuster can’t tell you their valuation, but they can give you a finger-wavy ballpark idea. The insurers decide whether your offer is reasonable or whether to sell on the open market.
If you are considering buying the aircraft back, remember that you will be liable for all the costs involved, which can soon mount up! If you’re still keen, there are companies that will buy wreckage, or you could sell parts online.
If you decide not to buy it, you sign over the registration documents to the insurer who will arrange salvage.
Whoever ends up owning the aircraft must notify the CAA that it is permanently non-airworthy, using the form on the back of the aircraft’s registration certificate. With a Permit aircraft, you should also inform the relevant governing body.
But, as we said at the start, most incidents are minor. Once the repairs are agreed, work can get underway. If expensive parts, such as engines or propellers, need replacing, the insurers might arrange that directly. Smaller parts are paid for by the maintenance company.
If you have the money and want to speed things up, you could give a blank cheque to the maintenance company and arrange payment with your insurers later. It could be a gamble though, if your insurers disagree with decisions over parts.
Also consider whether there is other maintenance needed. While the aircraft is grounded and being dismantled, it’s a good opportunity to get extra work done.
Wait… and then wait some more
It takes a very long time to fix an aeroplane. Just getting quotes for parts can take several weeks. Delivery can take months, especially if parts need to be manufactured. If you need paintwork, you can add on another month or so.
Great news – your aircraft is repaired! But wait a minute… who decides whether it’s airworthy?
In general, airworthiness is agreed with the maintenance organisation. If an air test is needed, they will have arranged it. You can give input into who conducts this test and nominate someone properly insured and qualified.
Even if an air test isn’t needed, if major structural elements have changed, or the aircraft has been taken apart, it’s sensible to do a shake down flight. You can do that yourself, of course, or ask an experienced pilot to go for a flight and double-check there’s nothing odd.
For the first few hours, be extra careful with your checks – look out for anything that needs a bit of tightening, for example. Although you’ve signed the aircraft off as repaired, if there’s something majorly wrong that you believe is a result of the accident, go back to the insurers as they can reopen the file.
Talk to an instructor about the accident. Could you – should you – have done something differently? Everyone makes mistakes. Even experienced pilots with thousands of hours. What’s important is learning from it. Finally, get back to enjoying flying again, with a suitably embellished clubhouse tale, all about the time you…
Jan Houlberg and Bob Bevan at Visicover, Steve Morley at Blackbushe Aviation, Jon Viner at the LAA, Al Greensmith, Colin Ridout, Sharon Cox, Philippa Roberts and Jeremy James.
2 comments
Useful article – but what do you do if you’ve made a forced landing and the aircraft needs to be recovered?
In addition to taking photos/videos and collating any eyewitness accounts, I very much recommend writing down every detail you can think of as soon as possible, while the information is still fresh in your mind. Having a contemporaneous account of what happened will be invaluable. The longer it’s left, the more details that will be forgotten, or changed.