AVIATION ISSUES
War Hull Coverage
Think it only applies if you leave the United States?
Think again.
by Kyle P. White
M
any King Air operators stay within the
continental United States and therefore feel it
is highly unlikely that they would benefit from
purchasing War Hull Coverage. War Hull is typically
an excluded peril in your aircraft policy, but for a small
fee, you can buy the coverage back via an endorsement.
Buying War Hull back into your policy can be done for
anywhere between free (you just have to ask for it) and a
nickel hull rate, which would equate to $500 in additional
premium for a King Air that is insured for $1,000,000.
So, why do you need War Hull Coverage and what
does it cover? First, look at how one carrier defines it
in their exclusions, and how they then “write it back”
in to your contract.
Excluding the coverage:
VII. War, Hi-jacking and Other Perils Exclusion Clause
The following exclusion clause is added to the
sections of your policy entitled “Liability claims
we won’t cover,” “Aircraft damage we won’t cover,”
and “Your Medical Coverage,”
We won’t cover any claim, damage, injury,
loss, cost, expense, or liability of any nature
whatsoever arising from, occasioned by, or in
consequence of:
(a) War, invasion, acts of foreign enemies,
hostilities (whether war be declared or not),
civil war, rebellion, revolution, insurrection,
martial law, military or usurped power or
attempts at usurpation of power.
(b) Any hostile detonation of any weapon of war
employing atomic or nuclear fission and/or
18 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
fusion or other like reaction or radioactive
force or matter.
(c) Strikes, riots, civil commotion or labor
disturbances.
(d) Any act of one or more persons, whether or
not agents of a sovereign power, for political
or terrorist purposes and whether the loss
or damage resulting there from is accidental
or intentional.
(e) Any malicious act or act of sabotage.
(f) Confiscation, nationalization, seizure,
restraint, detention appropriation, requisition
for title or use by or under the order of any
government (whether civil, military or de
facto) or public or local authority.
(g) Hi-jacking or any unlawful seizure or wrongful
exercise of control of the aircraft or crew
(including any attempt at such seizure or
control) made by any person or persons on
board the aircraft acting without your consent.
The policy wording writing it back into the policy:
2. Only with respect to the aircraft scheduled below
and with respect only to “Your Aircraft Physical
Damage Coverage,” the “War, Hi-jacking and Other
Perils Exclusion Clause” shall be amended to delete
paragraphs (a), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) thereof subject
to the following:
a. Automatic Termination
This Limited Write-Back shall terminate automati-
cally under any of the following circumstances:
AUGUST 2013
 (i) upon the outbreak of war (whether there be
a declaration of war or not) between any two
or more of the following: France, the People’s
Republic of China, the Russian Federation,
the United Kingdom, or the United States
of America; or
(ii) only with respect to the deletion of paragraph
(a) from the “War, Hi-jacking and other
Perils Exclusion Clause,” upon the hostile
detonation of any weapon of war employing
atomic or nuclear fission and/or fusion or other
like reaction or radioactive force or matter
wherever or whenever such detonation may
occur, and whether or not an aircraft covered
under your policy may be involved; or
(iii) upon the requisitioning of any aircraft covered
under your policy for title or use.
The write-back gives all coverages back except (b),
which is the exclusion of any hostile detonation of any
weapon of war employing atomic or nuclear fission and/or
fusion or other like reaction or radioactive force or matter.
I know you are thinking, “we’d have to be operating
our King Air in some pretty bad places in the world
where some of the above events are currently happening
in order to need this coverage.” However, there is one
paragraph of coverage that I’d like for you to pay particular
attention to, and that is coverage
(f), which includes perils such as
“confiscation” and “seizure.”
wasn’t until the owner was able to put up $25,000,000
in other assets did the government return the jet to
the owner. So, the insurance company never had to
pay on this one, but they could have if the owner was
carrying war hull and the airplane wasn’t returned to
the owner.
Are there other examples for this happening in the
United States? I don’t know. But for as affordable as
this coverage is, I think it would be a prudent purchase
giving all of the perils it covers.
Lastly, one may argue that if an insured does something
to violate the policy, then the policy won’t pay. That is
true with the exception of savvy lien holders. They
know that from time to time aircraft owners “breach
the contract” with the insurance company, thereby
allowing the carrier to deny a claim. This is why the
lien holder will ask for a “breach of warranty” when
they are named as a loss payee on the policy. So, even
if the aircraft owner violates the policy, the lien holder
still gets paid. KA
About the Author: Kyle P. White is the president of
Aviation Solutions, LLC, and has professionally flown
King Air 90s and B200s. He holds a Commercial
and Flight Instructor license. You can reach Kyle at
kylewhite@aviationsolutions.aero.

There have been many general

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aviation aircraft that have been
either confiscated or seized over It’s about time for
the years by foreign governments
for many different types of alleged
actions. Two immediately come to WEBSITE
mind – one was a Cheyenne 400LS www.morecompany.net
by the Columbian government and EMAIL
another is the Embraer Legacy that info@morecompany.net
was confiscated by Brazil after a PHONE
mid-air collision in their airspace (775) 782-3346
with an airliner.

King Air owners who never leave

the United States should also
carry this coverage as the United
States or other governing body
within the county (remember, the
coverage says “or public or local
authority”) could confiscate an
aircraft. It has happened too. In
2008, a Hawker 4000 was seized by
our government. This $21,000,000
insured asset made the insuring
company very nervous for a little
while. The aircraft was seized and
then flown to Midland, Texas. It
AUGUST 2013 KING AIR MAGAZINE • 19