"Frederick Wilson" wrote
As a renter of the local FBO 172, should I obtain personal renter insurance?

Maybe. A lot depends on whether you are worth suing. As a general
rule, if you were worth suing you could afford to buy your own
airplane.

What are the pro's and con's?

The pros are that the insurance company will pay if you are sued. The
cons are the premium and significantly increased likelihood of being
sued.

I'm not an expert on this, so I will simply relay what I was told by
an expert. The instructor who signed me off for my private glider
ride practiced for two decades as an aviation attorney, working
exclusively in GA. Of all the instructors in the club, he was the
least concerned about liability. When I asked him why, he told me the
best kept secret of the profession.

You just can't get a lawyer excited about suing someone who is
uninsured on a contingency basis. Neither he nor anyone he knew in
the business (and he knew lots of people in the business) ever
accepted such a case. He said it would take someone with a net worth
of millions to make him try it.

There are all kinds of reasons for this. Insurance companies tend to
be reasonable and will settle if their legal staff says the case is a
loser. Individuals tend to ignore the legal advice, and will expend
their liquid assets defending the suit just so the plaintiff won't get
it, even if it costs them more. Most people have most of their net
worth in their cars, houses, and retirement accounts - things you
can't get in a lawsuit. Attaching wages is rarely worthwhile, and
bankruptcy is no longer the unthinkable act it used to be. Basically,
you can't get blood from a stone.

Where would one get such coverage?

Most insurance companies (AOPA, AIG, etc) offer it. It will be
several hundred dollars a year. But realistically, if the cost of the
insurance gives you a bit of sticker shock, you probably don't need
it.

Michael