HA One thing you have not addressed (or have you?) is the emotional collateral of being sued over some accident claim.
We had this in an HG club while I was president. A spectator had their leg broken by a low airtime pilot. There was no problem about the claim and the club had insurance cover from the HGFA. The club did their best within the limits of not accepting any liability, to assure the injured person while in hospital, that nobody was going to dodge the claim. Regrettably, they forgot all these conversations. Possibly the affects of anaesthic, but a few days later, the family were claiming in the local newspaper that nobody had contacted them. Further to that, the solicitor's kept sending all letters to not only the HGFA, but as many club officers as they could find. Even though they may not have been personally liable, after a while everyone felt 100% personally liable. The claim went through for something like $750,000. I have no idea how they arrived at that amount. Anyway, the event was hugely stressful to all concerned and took the shine off flying for some time. After moving to sailplanes, I was a little unnerved by how much insurance... or rather how little public liability insurance the clubs seem to carry. Remember, most HG accidents are at bicycle speeds. Though there are more of them, they're not normally life threatening. Unlike sailplanes. Fewer accidents, but at much higher speeds and energy levels. I think that clubs should have an organised policy which is readily accessible, as a response to any possible emergency which might result in a liability claim. D _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
