Flight Dept 1.qxp_Finance 21/12/2021 15:36 Page 1
FLIGHT DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT
Rats & Hangar Rash: Keep Your BizAv Standards High With private aviation insurance premiums growing and renewals becoming harder to get, thanks to a rise in preventable claims, what can Flight Department Managers do to uphold the highest standards? Andre Fodor provides some thoughts… ver the past 18 months there has been a huge uptick in demand for Business Aviation. The industry is straining to deliver high-quality service to new and existing customers alike. Compounding the situation is a shortage of experienced workers. This is a time when we all must be focused, vigilant, and flexible, meticulously planning ahead in great detail to maintain high standards of service. Just recently I renewed our aircraft’s insurance. Once again, I saw an increase in premiums, higher deductibles and even less coverage offered. It seems we were the ‘lucky’ ones. There are smaller, single-pilot operations which have been flatly told that non-renewal is imminent unless they fly with two equally trained-in-type pilots. And for some who are operating older aircraft, denial of renewal may well force their aged aircraft into obsolescence.
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94 Vol 26 Issue 1 2022 AVBUYER MAGAZINE
As I spoke to one insurance broker, he told me of ever increasing preventable claims emanating from ‘hangar rash’, damage to aircraft under tow, and maintenance mishaps. With these challenges facing our industry, we need to stay laser-sharp in preventing them from happening. But how? Perhaps these examples from my own personal experiences will help spark some ideas…
Spotting the Signs of Slipping Standards
During a busy day in our hangar, as our aircraft was being cleaned and given its post-flight check, I answered a call on my cell phone. Becoming engrossed in the call, I was painfully reminded of my immediate environment as I hit my head against the aircraft’s leading edge slats. It was a hard hit, classified as a concussion by my doctor, which required me to sit out several trips to recover. The bigger problem is that I wrote the hangar www.AVBUYER.com
