Affordable Life Insurance for Helicopter Pilots: What Underwriters Need to Know & How to Apply

Last Updated: April 2021

If you’re a helicopter pilot and are in the market for life insurance, finding affordable rates can feel intimidating. Finding the right company is key to avoid extra charges.

We’ve been working with commercial, military, and private helicopter pilots for years. Working with an independent life insurance agency that has the expertise, experience, and resources to secure the lowest high-risk life insurance rates for helicopter pilots is critical.

In this article, we will explain what a flat extra charge is, what underwriters will look for, and how to apply for life insurance as a helicopter pilot.

• Avoid the Flat Extra Charge for Life Insurance for Helicopter Pilots
• What Underwriters Need to Know About Your Flying
• How to Apply for Life Insurance as a Helicopter Pilot

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Avoid the Flat Extra Charge for Life Insurance for Helicopter Pilots

First of all, do not use an online life insurance quote engine. The majority of life insurance companies are going to add a “flat extra” to those rates. You’ll want to speak with a helicopter life insurance expert. An expert in underwriting helicopter pilots can help you avoid that “flat extra” charge.

We represent over 60 life insurance companies and have done our market research for helicopter pilots and 90% of life insurance companies will charge that pesky flat extra no matter what your risk is or if you have a high-risk occupation.

A “flat extra” charges an extra dollar amount per $1,000 of coverage (on top of the regular premium). For example, a $5 flat extra on a $250,000 policy would add $1,250 per year to your policy ($5 x 250).

The key to finding the cheapest life insurance for helicopter pilots is finding a company that won’t give you this flat extra charge, or gives you the lowest flat extra available for your risk.

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What Underwriters Need to Know About Your Flying

Listed below is the information we’ll need to ask about your helicopter piloting to secure the best life insurance rates:

• Total PIC (Pilot in Command) hours
• Average PIC hours annually
• PIC hours last year
• Type of Helicopter (Make and Model)
• FAA Certification Date
• Type of Pilot License (Private, Commercial, Flight Instructor, Instrument Cert, Airline Transport, etc.)
• Any Violations or Accidents?

If these questions aren’t asked, your agent is just taking a shot in the dark.

In general, the more PIC hours under your belt, the better. Based on the information above, we’re able to shop your risk to all of the top-rated life insurance companies on the market. We already know which companies provide the lowest life insurance rates for helicopter pilots, so we zero in on those companies.

Recent Case Study of a Helicopter Pilot Finding Life Insurance

We had a gentleman contact us to shop the rates he received from his local life insurance agent.

• He’s a 38-year-old male with no health issues.
• Total PIC hours: 500 (1,000 total hours)
• Flies an average of 96 hours annually
• Flies a Black Hawk UH-60 for the National Guard
• FAA Commercial Certification in 2008 and also Instrument rated
• No violations or accidents

He was quoted a $5 flat extra and told this was the best he could qualify for.

He found us online and we sent his risk out to the carriers we know to have the most aggressive underwriting for helicopter pilots. We had quotes from 3 carriers with no flat extra and one A+ rated carrier offered Preferred rates. (We would reveal these carriers, but don’t want to give away our trade secrets online.)

Obviously, our client was ecstatic about these rates.

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How to Apply for Life Insurance as a Helicopter Pilot

So how do we differentiate ourselves from the rest of the industry in securing the cheapest life insurance rates for helicopter pilots?

Simple. We spent the time doing market research from over 60 life insurance companies. On top of that, we have a unique qualifying process that’s labor-intensive for us (something most agents aren’t willing to do).

Here’s what we do:

1. Qualify your helicopter flying background and health history
2. Pre-qualify your risk by sending it to underwriters at the companies that consistently give the best rates for helicopter pilots. (24-48 hour turnaround time)
3. Present you the best offers.

These “pre-qualification” offers we receive back are called “tentative offers”. Meaning, if everything we explained to the underwriter is validated in underwriting, then they have to give us this rating.

These tentative offers are given to us in writing, so we can attach them to your application.

Working with an independent life insurance agent is the best way to secure the lowest rates possible. An independent agent will work for you, not just a specific company, and will have your best interest in mind.

Life Insurance for Helicopter Pilots Can Be Affordable

Hopefully, we’ve demonstrated that our team at Rootfin has experience in finding the cheapest life insurance rates for helicopter pilots. Whether you’re flying a Chinook, Huey, Apache, Comanche, Cobra, Black Hawk, or any military, commercial or private helicopter, we can help.

We would appreciate the opportunity to earn your business. Please call us or complete our quote request form on the right and we’ll get in touch with you.