I'm not even kidding. Maybe it will make it easier to get CAA approval too.
On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 2:35 PM, Ed Moore <eddymo
...@gmail.com> wrote:
> In order to get some discussion points for the conference, and to save
> the conference thread getting side-swiped off topic, I thought I might
> start a new discussion.
> If you have successfully (or unsuccessfully but having learned
> something useful on the way) got insurance for a balloon flight,
> please post your experiences here.
> I will start the ball rolling:
> 1) CUSF used to get insurance via the university insurance department
> but that was withdrawn in 2008 as they decided our activities were no
> longer covered. (We didn't change what we did, they changed their
> interpretation of the rules).
> 2) I got insurance as a private individual (i.e. in my name) for the
> CUSF ExoMars parachute testing project. I got this from Falcon
> Insurance in texas, talking to a broker who specialised in
> experimental aviation stuff and had previously helped out armadillo
> aerospace. He is no longer with them sadly, and the broker who dealt
> with the contract subsequently did not give the impression that it was
> something they particularly wanted to continue with new customers
> given economics. The coverage was for 3 flights of our esa drop
> vehicle (or subsections of it). I spent a *very* long time explaining
> to them what we were doing and why we wouldn't be able to afford
> whatever they would quote us (i.e. please make a special exemption
> because we're not for profit and our project is awesome). You need an
> actual human contact in order to do this. In the end it cost us
> $5000USD for 3 flights, a bill we passed on to ESA. I had tried 4 or 5
> people before that, including some of the insurers that I know have
> covered HAB flights for TV work for other ukhas members before, but
> they were quite specific that it had to be only for tv stuff, (special
> effects), even though we were doing the same actual hab activity. You
> can imagine, given my reputation for patience and understanding in the
> face of the irrational, that I loved every moment of these
> conversations. I am firmly of the opinion that people in the insurance
> industry and taken straight from Joseph Heller novels.
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