Before you enroll in flight school, you should check your life insurance policy's terms and conditions. Although flying is a fairly safe activity, some policies exclude it from their coverage. If yours does, you'll want to find a new policy that will cover you while you're in the air.

Some Life Insurance Policies Exclude Recreational Flying

If you've had a life insurance policy for a long time, you may find that its terms and conditions exclude flying. According to Carl Chance, most newer life insurance policies don't mention anything about general aviation flying, because insurers have realized how safe the pastime is. (Christopher Hinton reports flying a plane is safer than driving a car.) Chance notes that older policies may have language that restricts coverage when flying a plane, though.

Although your policy is more likely to exclude recreational flying if it's older, you should check your policy's terms and conditions regardless of when you got it. While Chance notes a trend among newer policies, any life insurance policy may have a clause in its fine print that addresses general aviation.

Find Life Insurance Coverage Before Taking Off

If your policy excludes recreational flying, you should get coverage before going for your first flying lesson. The chances of something happening while you're in the air are slim, but it's better to be insured than to not be. There are two ways you might be able to get life insurance coverage for while you're in the air.

You may be able to get your insurance company to drop the exclusionary clause about recreational flying from your policy. Your insurers may be willing to delete this clause if your life insurance policy is an older one and the company no longer includes the clause in policies they underwrite. Even if having this clause stricken from the policy increases your premiums, you might find that the premium increase is minor and much less than the rates for other life insurance policies.

If your insurer won't strike the clause from your policy, you should talk with an insurance agent about getting a rider for when you're flying. Riders are designed to extend coverage in a specific way. Because their coverage is narrowly defined, their premiums often are reasonable. In this case, you might be able to use a rider to extend your life insurance coverage to when you're in the air.

Getting into the cockpit is fun, but make sure you're doing it responsibly. Check your life insurance and, if necessary, adjust your coverage so you'll be insured while you're soaring among the clouds. For more information, contact an insurance agency like Amberg Insurance Center Inc.