General aviation needs more good instructors, Avemco President Jim Lauerman said on Friday at Sun ‘n Fun, but insurance costs have been a barrier for many experienced owner/pilots who have earned a CFI ticket and might like to teach on an occasional basis. Now Avemco is offering customized liability coverage that will make it possible for those CFIs to take on students, Lauerman said. He also said that Avemco is analyzing data from its light sport aicraft coverage, and is passing on information to the LSA community to help improve training. “We’ve found that the light wing-loading of LSAs requires a greater emphasis on low-speed directional control,” he said. Once the data analysis is complete, a few months from now, he expects it will lead to differentiation in the LSA insurance market. “We’ve been lumping them all together,” Lauerman said, “but will end up with probably three different categories of LSA.”
Lauerman also announced that Avemco will lend support to the FAA Wings program to promote safer piloting, and to Build A Plane, to help get young people excited about GA and keep the community growing. The company also is supporting a research project at the University of Illinois that aims to find better ways to educate pilots about safety and airmanship. Cirrus Design is also involved in that program.
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