Glad to hear your partner is okay. He or she must have made a "good"
landing!

Definitely call your insurance broker or company. They will assign an
insurance adjuster for you. The adjuster will examine the FAA and NTSB
reports and may want to look at the plane in person. They will work
with you on getting a repair estimate, and will discuss what will be
covered.

Generally they cover what was damaged, but not the cause of the
damage---thus if this was a bad landing caused by misaligned landing
gear, they will repair the prop, tear down and inspect the engine, fix
and repaint any scrapes on the bottom, etc. but they are not responsible
for fixing the gear problem. Also, they are NOT in the business of
upgrading, so if you opt to upgrade the prop or overhaul the engine
while it is apart, that will be on your nickel. Granted, will insurance
paying for the tear-down and reassembly, it will be the cheapest
overhaul you can buy.

From what I understand, the plane is in danger of being a total loss if
the repair estimate approaches 70% of the plane's value. This is
because they could probably recover 30% of the value in salvage, often
more than that simply from the radios, and thus it would be cheaper for
them overall. Something to discuss with them when the time comes.

The insurance adjuster can also recommend a repair shop, though you may
have better luck finding a qualified shop through a type club for your
type of plane. If it happens to be local, the shop will figure out how
to get the plane in. If the shop you want to use is remote, be prepared
for insurance to only cover as much as it would cost to recover the
plane to a local shop. They won't pay to take it four states away when
a qualified mechanic is normally less than 100 miles away.



GE wrote:

Being new to airplane ownership, I would appreciate some advice from the
more seasoned guys out there. This weekend, my partner wrecked our plane.
He's okay, which is certainly the most important thing. I'm still not
certain of the details, but it sounds pretty bad. Of course I'll be calling
the insurance company today. The reason I'm writing is to gather information
on how we need to proceed from this point. I know there are required
reports, but primarily I am concerned with insurance pitfalls. I have dealt
with insurance claims and automobiles before, but I don't know if there are
any similarities or not. I do not know how to find reputable repair shops or
how to have the plane delivered to one. I don't know what point must be
reached for the plane to be totaled. In other words, I am looking for any
advice that I can so that I can make informed decisions about the situation.

Thanks in advance for your help