required to be at least 17 years of age,
pass an FAA-administered knowledge
test every two years, and obtain an
FAA-issued UAS Operator Certificate
with a small UAS rating.
legal questions remain
Following are a few of the legal issues
related to the use of drones:
• Can a property owner allege that a
Drone is “intruding” or trespassing
on his/her property?
• How will nuisance, aggravation,
and other laws controlling felonious
deeds be useful to the use of Drones?
• Do territory restrictions apply to
UASs?
• What about confidentiality and
cyber-liability for the data that is
being captured and stored?
• How will federal aviation law work
in conjunction with state laws on
some of these issues?
In addition to the regulatory and
legal matters, there are many liability,
risk management, and insurance
coverage issues (in relation to
insuring UASs for business use) that
will need to be addressed for both
personal insurance and business
insurance.
Very few insurers offer insurance
coverage to the aircraft industry
(up from less than a dozen a few
years back). It is likely additional
companies will provide coverage
options once the FAA solidifies
regulations around the use of drones.
While insurance companies are
beginning to look at how to provide
coverage, they don’t have much
information or experience to assist
them as they seek to provide their
policyholders with proper coverage.
Grinnell Mutual is reportedly
making available an endorsement
that provides liability coverage on
their Farm-Guard Policy and their
farm liability policy for unmanned
aircraft for “precision agricultural
operations.”
In order to insure UASs properly,
insurance companies will need to
know their function or intention,
their departure and arrival spots,
whether they will be operating in
inhabited areas, and their flying
height.
These systems can also gather vast
quantities of information. Insurers
should know how the proprietor
of such aircraft systems will utilize
the information it has assembled
and what steps they need to take
to preserve/destroy the data it has
stockpiled.
UASs will have the identical
insurance needs as other aircraft,
just on a smaller scale given their
size, flying range, and price tag.
Given the risk avoidance nature
of the industry, carriers might
enforce even stricter rules than
what the FAA may require.
Bremen Farmers’ Mutual
Insurance Company
Serving Kansas since 1888
• Homeowners
• Agri–Pak (Farmowners)
• Preferred Homeowners
• Inland Marine
• Dwelling Fire
• Business Owners
• Online quoting, application submission, and document
view available
Curtis Holle • President
Steve Meier • VP/Claims Mgr.
Bryce Peters • Underwriting Mgr.
201 Brenneke St. | Bremen, KS 66412
T: 800.562.5712 | F: 785.337.2414
Drones are not going away.
Insurance agents and brokers will
need to be ready to help their
clients understand the increased
liability for operating a drone and
provide insurance solutions to fill
the coverage gap.
Steve Anderson provides information to
insurance agents about how they can use
technology to increase revenue and/or reduce
expenses. He speaks professionally to hundreds
of agents each year on the future of technology,
the social web, and how insurance agencies
can establish their Internet presence.
www.bfmic.com
Email: [email protected]
|July-August 2015| KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER
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