By now the reality of the loss you suffered in the last issue has been put in the capable hands of the adjuster. Wait, did you not read my column last issue??? Or do you not remember it??? How can that be, it was such a literary masterpiece!

Briefly, I covered the basic steps that you should do when you have a loss with your helicopter. As a review, here are the highlights. First, make sure any injured person or persons have the care they need administered. Minor cuts & bruises should get a trip to the E.R. as even a minor bump may become something serious if it is not addressed immediately. Take pictures with the disposable camera you should always keep in your flight bag. If necessary, you can use your cell phone camera, but the resolution is usually not as clear as a traditional camera. Have the damaged ship moved to someplace secure. If it is on your home airport, your own hangar or some other hangar to secure the wreckage is the safest place. If it was a loss in the middle of nowhere, the adjuster will have it retrieved and they will handle the security from that point on.

Once the ship is secure, the adjuster is the primary point of contact. It is his or her job to gather the facts of the loss and, depending on your policy, they may also be the final decider of the loss. In fact, you as the owner/operator will usually not need to do anything except to comply with the requests of the adjuster.

Here is what the adjuster will initially do when given the claim. They will get the information on the ship to make sure the helicopter damaged is actually covered on the policy, the pilot is either named on the policy or meets the open pilot warranty and that the activity occurring at the time of the loss is allowed by the policy. The adjuster will then gather statements from the owner/operator, pilot and any crew or passengers. He or she will have the aircraft logs to make sure the ship was in annual and that any parts that are time-limited are within that time, etc.

Most adjusters assigned to your loss are already familiar with several repair shops and which ones will do a better job on any particular type of loss. They also know which ones have the reputation for doing the repair in a timely and complete manner. With any type of hull loss, there is almost always the concern of hidden damage that cannot be seen during an external inspection. So the adjuster knows which shop will do a better job working with the company when the hidden damage is found. There are a few shops who will try to take advantage of the insurance company figuring that once it is in the shop in several pieces scattered on the floor of the hangar they can increase the cost beyond reason. Don’t worry, the adjusters know who they are and will put the repair with the fair repair shop rather than the first “low bidder”.

Once the repairs are completed, there is one more area that the owner needs to be aware of. The term “betterment” is something all owners should be aware of. Let’s say they replace two or three rotor blades. You know they have a life expectancy that is expressed as hours. Other parts are limited by the number of starts, a calendar age limit or whatever. If the insurance company replaces the item with a factory new item and the part was at 60% of it’s expected life, the company may offer to only allow on the claim the remaining 40% of the cost of the replacement. They assume that you have already been setting aside in your maintenance budgets the cost to replace those items as they come up on their replacement date. So, theoretically, you should already have the difference in your budget. Again, this will depend on your policy as not every policy treats this area the same.

If the cost to repair, based on the best estimates, exceeds 70% of the insured value, it is very likely the company will offer to cut a check for the total insured value less the deductible. This is why you should not underinsure the ship in hopes of saving a hundred dollars in premium.

If your loss involves bodily injury, the adjuster will get any legal actions made, any costs of their doctor and/or hospital expenses and, depending on the extent of the injuries, will work with the injured parties to offer fair settlements. The good thing is that a competent adjuster will do all of this behind the scenes and you may never know what has happened. Once the adjuster gets the claim, it his his/her job to make any settlement as painless as possible for you, the client.

I hope I have explained this complex issue in a way that will give hope and understanding to the claim process. Please keep in mind that this is a general overview as every claim is different. Contact your agent for your specific coverage questions.