RCU Forums - View Single Post - New marking rule - Effective 25 February
View Single Post
Old 02-18-2019, 06:48 PM
  #20  
franklin_m
 
franklin_m's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: State College, PA
Posts: 4,561
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Default

Originally Posted by LouieB
The problem is not the farmer reporting the plane to the FAA ... a fly-a-way is not inherently illegal of itself. The bigger issue is did the plane do any damage and are you covered? The law is to have the sticker and not having the sticker gives your home owners insurance company an 'out' because you are flying illegally. So now, the claim
falls back to the AMA secondary insurance which may or may not cover the claim. That is yet, as far as I know, to be determined whether AMA insurance will cover an
incident where the aircraft was not registered or, registered and not labeled.

I asked my home owners ( Erie ) if they covered and there answer was if the plane is not registered and is being flown as a hobby it is very likely they will not cover the claim. They would likely consider it an illegal incident and not cover it. It would be up to the agent at the time. Any commercial flights and certainly they would not cover the incident.

Just as important is that not all home owner policy's will cover the RC plane. Erie happens to consider it a model so it comes under the H.O. policy. Other companies may consider the RC plane an 'aircraft' and in that case the H.O. policy probably would not cover the incident. Best to check with one's insurance agent to make certain if their H.O. covers R.C.
For what it's worth, USAA will also cover recreational sUAS, flown at the home or somewhere else. I never asked the "what if it's not registered," only because I'm a rule follower and will always comply with the registration.