Julian, she'll have to stay stateside as I spend most my time here. I would love to tour Europe in her at some point, as a vacation thing, but I'm not the man to bring her over the pond just yet.
Today I got some good news. I've tried to insure her for almost 6 months and nobody would touch us. I tried different insurance agencies and even made the rounds myself on the phone to various underwriters. No dice. They didn't like me (they especially didn't like me), they didn't like her age, they didn't like Aero Commanders, period. They wanted 500hrs multi time, IR and god knows what else. So I braced myself for flying her many hours without insurance until I met the criteria's.
Now before anyone gets excited, in the US you don't have to have insurance - there is no law prohibiting you from flying uninsured. However, if you live in congested areas (as I do) and something goes t**s up, then you're bound to hit something expensive. If I'd lived in Montana or Kansas, I wouldn't have been the least nervous about it, but right in the middle of the LA basin? I'd shifted my intended base from Santa Monica airport to El Monte, which is in slightly less congested surroundings, just to address the unlikely possibility.
But I digress.
Finally I contacted AOPA's Insurance Agency and asked them for help and I don't know why I didn't do so earlier. They came back with one insurer who at least didn't outright reject it. Thank God, things were looking a little bit up. The underwriter nervously fielded questions about the "wing spar AD compliance" and thankfully this was something I'd researched thoroughly. As I mentioned in my OP they Aero Commanders from the 560A model and upwards have three fairly serious recurring inspection AD's on the wing. Thankfully, only a few apply to the 520 and the first 560 model as they share a different design. The most severe one, the spar cap replacement, I'm exempted from. After they'd satisfied themselves with those facts, they offered full liability insurance for me and the aircraft for $2289, which I thought was rather reasonable. No hull. They wanted me to have 15hrs instruction in type and a recurring 1hr instruction each year.
I can do that, no problem. Thanks AOPA - I knew becoming a member was a good thing!
It's a huge learning curve with aircraft. And many obstacles. I wish there weren't so many barriers set up for new owners. Not only does one have to contend with the steep learnings of maintenance and paperwork, but also insurance. Granted, this is a high performance machine in their eyes paired with a low time, inexperienced pilot in type and that freaks them out. But really, is it that much of a difference? All her systems are the same as you can find on any 182, just doubled up. She doesn't go much faster and she'll only fit one more person. Any Bonanza will fly eights around me and leave me in the dust. Sure I can get myself into a mess with asymmetrical thrust, but surely not in any more mess than a single that quits, right? At least I have fairly good chance of making it to the airport... Just curious about the logics involved from an underwriters perspective, not really complaining.
