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Comment by code4tee | Hacker News Reader

“Private pilots are enough of an additional risk that life insurance will charge extra if you are one.”

That’s often not true. They do ask and you have to provide records but it doesn’t necessarily impact rates. Pilots are generally wealthier, better educated and need to undergo regular medical exams to keep their certificate. All things that statistically make one healthier. There are many aspects that make a pilot a more attractive life insurance candidate from a risk standpoint, not less.

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It has always cost me about 3 times more to get a policy that does not exclude small airplanes.

I can get a nice cheap policy as a pilot with the small airplane exclusion though, but since piloting the small aircraft is one of the more dangerous things I do, seems like not a good idea to exclude it.

The trick is to not be a pilot before you pick up an insurance policy

General Aviation is specifically excluded in every general life insurance policy.

Your statement is incorrect, and maybe only valid for your insurance policy(ies).

My policy is not written in such a way.

Wouldn’t this just mean that your insurance provider drops you or declines coverage when you actually need it?

no, unless your policy is written that way.

Cover the crash risk with appropriate aircraft insurance and you don’t need to cover it with expensive life insurance. This was my agent’s advice anyhow.

Both of these can be true:

* Pilots have lower risk of death than the general population (because of health requirements and general wealthiness)

* A person who decides to become a pilot has a higher risk of death than if they didn't (because a lot of private pilots crash)

How becoming a pilot affects life insurance is based on the second, not the first.

Single pilot IFR near minimums is scarier than BASE jumping, I've done both, it's very dangerous in piston singles, large commercial is orders of magnitudes safer with turbines, modern electronics, and two pilots sharing the workload...

I've also done both, and think BASE is way scarier. I know way more BASE jumpers gone than people who fly pistons IFR.

What are the odds of two instrument rated BASE jumpers on HN?

I bet there are a bunch of us... I'm not sure knowing more jumpers going in than pilots is quite valid, jumpers, especially BASE, tend to be more "cowboy" than the average IFR pilot, jump at bridge day and meet your peers.. ;-)

I have family that are MD's and it's very common (or was) for doctors to get their pilot's license. I was told about death pools are common for new pilots, with surgeons being seen as the more likely to die due to their less risk adverse nature.

More likely to die due to being less risk averse?

Sorry, my phrasing is a bit funny :) A surgeon is considered more likely to take risks in treatment vs a general practitioner. A surgeon is also more likely to die in a small plane crash.

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