Borrowing someone else's plane?
 

Provided you can get someone's permission to borrow their plane how easy is it to arrange? What does one need to consider in terms of insurance for example?

Just depends on their insurance. Like car insurance, you can get "any pilot" or "named pilot only". The former will usually specify qualifying hours, but if covered then it's simply up to the owner.

SS

Understand the insurance policy well. There are situations where, after the occurrance of damage to the aircraft, and a resulting claim, the insurer might ask you to defend yourself against the claim, (like saying it was not your fault, so the insurance does not have to pay). This can put you in the position where you have to be at odds with the person who lent you the plane, where you would rather see them having the claim paid out with no hassles. Being named on the insurance should take care of this.

Make sure that you know the deducable, so you are prepared to pay that amount. It may be payable even in the case of a total loss claim.

Best to do some flying with the owner, so you see how he/she likes to have the plane flown; power settings & leaning, shock cooling, procedures, how it is to be tied down and secured.

Have fun...

Also: obtain agreement on a few "what if" scenarios. For instance if you're at a foreign airfield and the plane says "no" somehow, because of a duff spark plug or some other relatively minor failure. That sort of maintenance, away from base, doesn't come as cheap as the same maintenance back at base. Who's going to pay for the overnight parking, hotel costs, the taxi & commercial flight back home and who's going to retrieve the plane eventually, once it's fixed?

When you rent a plane from a commercial outfit or not-for-profit club, this is the sort of thing that's normally covered in their terms of hire.

Because of this, a prudent owner will limit you to a certain geographic area where you can go without prior authorization. When you want to go further than that, you need permission on an ad-hoc basis.