We received the following from Charles Wood or Paradise Air Haven Airpark in Washington, Oklahoma:

Just wanted to let you know that LWYP saved our Homeowners Association almost $1,000 in insurance premiums this year. The past several years we had been paying Air Capital Insurance of Wichita, Kansas, $2900 for a $500,000 liability policy.

After you conducted your insurance survey, and several underwriters contacted you, I contacted Mike Schiller at Wenk Aviation Insurance Agency, Inc., Highland Park, Illinois. Wenk provided a $1,000,000 liability policy for $1,922. Thank you.

Charles Wood
Paradise Air Haven Airpark (39OK)
Washington, OK

Chuck Wenk, a second-generation aviation insurance broker, told us recently that liability coverage for residential airparks and individual homes is readily available from a wide variety of companies. How the property is managed becomes the major key in getting the coverage and the rate required.

Located in Highland Park, IL, Wenk said his company was started by his father and today includes his own offspring, thus making it a 3-generational insurance agency providing a full range of coverage. He claimed his firm, Wenk Aviation Insurance, is the oldest aviation insurance firm in the country. The firm is licensed to sell insurance in every state except Hawaii and Alaska, he added.

Most residential airparks are securing liability coverage of $1 million although he has written policies as high as $10 million. Wenk reported that there is no “average” figure for liability coverage. “Every situation is different,” he explained. “Does the airpark sell fuel, is there a maintenance facility, are the homes fenced from the runway, can kids get to the airplanes, etc., are all questions that the insurance underwriter wants to have answered,” Wenk added. He said the premium for the insurance coverage depends on the answers.

“We’ve written $1 million liability policies for as low as $850 and as high as $21,000,” he stated.

You can reach Went Aviation Insurance at 1-800-225-WENK.

I read your recent article in the April 4, 2008 Issue of General Aviation News regarding airpark liability insurance.

Our airpark, High Mesa Airpark LLC has a 3300 foot long, 60 foot wide runway. Each of the 20 lots of 2 acres owns property out to the middle of the runway, with a setback of 150 feet where no construction is allowed. Each lot owner makes his own taxiway to the runway.

In your answer, “Hopefully the runway, taxiways or other common property are held by a homeowners association that is incorporated.” The question is what is meant by the words, “held by”?

Also, in paragraph two, “consider the value of the property owned by the association.” Our association does not own any of the runway itself.

How could one distinguish between runway ownership and home ownership of for example lot 7, and a common runway?

The situation might also be complicated by our County Planning and Zoning regulations.

In the event of an “incident” leading to litigation, most likely occurring on the runway, the situation becomes even more unclear.

I concur with you in that I would not want to be part of an association that goes without liability insurance. Possible resolution of these questions might come from a study of other examples of past cases involving air park associations in litigations.

Do you know of an attorney with experience involving air park associations? Please advise.

Thank you,

Ron Garver, Maintenance Manager
Phil DiBartola, Air Park Assn. President

Recently we asked insurance firms to tell us about liability insurance terms and fees for residential airparks. We received responses from Jon R. Shimer, Jr. of Aviation Insurance Resources and Norma Joyce of AUA. The information they provided is below together with the contact information.

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If you haven’t completed the survey form in airpark liability insurance, please click on Latest News and scroll down to the survey story. You can then click on the link and go directly to the survey.

This survey can provide potentially vital information to anyone currently living on an airpark or considering buying on a fly-in community. There have already been about 20 responses to the survey and we’re hoping to receive at least 50 to make the information more meaningful.

Does your airpark carry liability insurance? How much coverage do you have and, perhaps more important, what insurance company writes your policy?

These and other questions are part of our survey aimed at helping all airparks with the never-ending question about liability insurance for their airpark.

As always, those completing our surveys are held in the strictest confidence unless you specifically give us an OK to share it. As soon as we’ve collected a sufficient amount of data, we’ll analyze the results and post them on the website.

To complete the survey please click on the following link (or if it doesn’t work for you, copy the entire link into your browser window): Click here to take survey.

In our ongoing attempts to get the latest information on a wide variety of areas of interest to residents of residential airparks - or those wanting to become airpark residents - we’re now trying to update information on homeowners insurance.

We’re developed a short questionnaire that seeks to find the names of companies writing homeowners insurance for residential airpark homes. The form also asks the state in which your airpark home is located, the type home you have, whether your insurance rate has been adjusted recently and the number of homes on the airpark.

The information is strictly confidential and there’s no way any individual can be pinpointed from this survey.

Please click on the link (or paste the URL into your browser window) to get to the survey.

http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=640992 (survey no longer active)

Thanks for your help and cooperation.

I’m a Mortgage Loan officer for a small Mortgage Broker company in Overgaard, AZ.

I’m looking for financing companies for aircraft hangers at our private airpark, Mogollon Airpark. I have lenders that will do the loans for the homes all day long, just not the hangers and I’m at my wits end trying to find the lenders for my potential customers.

Any help you can provide will be GREATLY appreciated!! I’m not looking for business, (if it came my way I wouldn’t turn it down) just some assistance.

Thank you so much!!

Denise Barker
Wholesale Lending LLC
MBBR 0108116
888-277-9660

We continue getting appeals for information on appraising residential airpark property. This appears to be a major problem for anyone wanting to purchase or sell a house or lot on a residential airpark if financing is required. We continue getting appeals for information on appraising residential airpark property. This appears to be a major problem for anyone wanting to purchase or sell a house or lot on a residential airpark if financing is required.
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Do you need an appraiser to help you buy or sell a residential airpark property? We’ve got some help for you.
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