A brand new episode is here!
On the new episode we're shifting our focus towards the importance of drone insurance for both recreational or hobby flying as well as commercial purposes. Our guest is Daniel Blomerus from Unicorn Insurance Brokers. The following points are discussed.
- So I bought myself a brand new drone. How do I get it insured?
- Difference between Recreational and Commercial drone insurance.
- Requirements for commercial drone insurance.
For more info on drone insurance visit their website on: https://www.unicorninsurance.co.za/
Aerial Drone Solutions is a fully licensed and insured drone operator and for more info and pricing on drone solutions you can visit our website on: http://www.aerialdronesolutions.co.za
Ruben
Hi guys, it's Ruben here from Aerial Drone Solutions, and man did we have a good response on our previous videos regarding the drone regulations in South Africa. And we had a great chat to Dean Polley from CUAASA regarding that, so if you missed it, please go check it out on our social media pages on YouTube, Facebook, and also on our website. It's www.aerialdronesolutions.co.ca. Please also make sure to join us on LinkedIn. For this episode, we're going to be focusing a little bit more on the insurance side of drones in South Africa and we've got the expert here to tell us a little bit more Daniel Blomerus from Unicorn Insurance Brokers, Daniel, are you well?
Daniel
Thank you very much for inviting us for this vlog, it's a real pleasure to be here
Ruben
Tell us, how's business
Daniel
Busy! As a drone insurer, drone broker, you can just imagine the type of industry that we're in, it's very fast moving, but we're very happy.
Ruben
Let's dive straight in and let's talk about the drone insurance. So let's say for instance, I went out and I bought myself a brand new drone, and I want to get insurance for my drone. What is the process?
Daniel
So firstly, Ruben will have to see what type of use the clients going to use it for. Is he going to use it for recreational or hobby use? Or is it going to be full on commercial scale?
Ruben
Yeah, so let's start off with hobby or recreational flying. How does one get insured for that?
Daniel
So with recreational flying, there's a lot of insurance companies out there that claim that they do hobby pilots and will ensure a hobby pilot. The biggest concern that clients need to be aware of is they need to look at the types of cover that you get. So for recreational pilots, there arei rules that you need to abide by and the drone insurers that actually ensure recreational pilots will cover you while on the ground as well as in the air. The normal rules that you explained in your previous interview, 50 metres away from any object, person, road, you can't fly at night, all of those will still apply. The rules that you explained on your previous episode will still apply for recreational drone pilots. And the insurance company will work with that.
Ruben
Absolutely. And if you missed that, please go check it out on our previous episodes, all the rules are stipulated out there. And also in Part 101 on the CAA website, you'll find all of those rules. Let's move over to commercial because this is this becomes quite a different animal when it gets to insurance and getting covered on there explained to us the different types of cover and why it's so important.
Daniel
So Ruben on commercial it is not as easy as people think if you fly for any client or you charge any client a fee to do work for him. The CAA classifies it as commercial uses. So for commercial pilots, it's not just buying a drone and taking out insurance and flying. There's a lot of licencing there's a lot of rules and regulation that they need to abide by. Firstly, we will have to start with each pilot will have to go and do an RPL course which is a remote pilot's licence, they will have to go through an accredited trainer in South Africa we are we are four of them currently. Then the company that you would fly under or the company that you would do your work in will have to have a valid ROC. This is a registered RPAS operator's certificate. For a ROC, you will need an air service licence, the air service licence will be given to you from the CAA. And then after all of that being done each air craft each RPAS you have will have to be registered under that ROC and we call that RPAS letter of approval or RLA.
Ruben
And it's interesting that you mention that because I think it's really important to note as well doesn't mean if you've got your RPL that you can still go out and fly commercially. You still need have the ROC in place don't need to have the air service licences and all those accre and certifications in place to be able to fly commercially in South Africa. So Daniel explaine to us the type of cover that I would need to take out as a commercial drone operator.
Daniel
So again, it depends on each pilot, each company and how they operate. We've got farmers that we work with that have crop sprayers and agricultural drones. We've got surveyors that have more your LIDAR equipment, your big M600 RPAS. The biggest thing that you need to look at firstly is you need to decide if you want to insure your equipment. If you want to insure your equipment we can cover the hull itself so that will be the the UAV or the RPAS. In a situation where you have, for instance, a Matrice 600. This is a it's a big boy and it can carry a lot of payload. In our industry, we've got a lot of clients that actually work in the survey industry, where they work with LIDAR equipment. So LIDAR scanner is not R5, it's not R50, we're talking about from 1.5 million to 3.8 million, depending on what you've got. So you need to make sure that the cover that you've got is actually correct. So that will be your hull, which would be your aircraft and then you will have your payload that will be attached to the craft. Further than that we also cover the guys for third party liability, which in this case is one of the most important things in South Africa for an ROC operation for ROC company. If you've got any aircraft listed on your ROC you have to have a minimum of 2.5 million third party liability. So it's very easy to say that I'm a commercial operator but the the way they need to manage that operation is very intemse. And then there's a lot of rules and regulation that that go with it.
Ruben
Let's move over to a possible case study of a drone incident or accident that took place and what happened towards the claiming process.
Daniel
So I'm going to tell you about a story we had on a commercial operation. They were scanning power lines, big power lines, and it wasn't a standard plain Phantom 4, which we all know is the, I call it the Hilux 2.4 of the drone industry. The pilot was flying, something went wrong. He hit the powerlines, the powerline actually came down. The drone exploded, caught on fire and burn the farmer's field. There was a lot of damage to this farmer's field. And that is where third party claim actually came in. We paid for the the craft itself, which was a R30 000 replacement, but the biggest thing out of this time was actually the third party that had a result in that
Ruben
And that is why it's so important to have the third party liability insurance in place.
Daniel
Definitely that is one of the biggest points that commercial operators have to look at.
Ruben
Right Stuff. Thank you, Daniel. So contact details if people would like to find out more about drone insurance Where can they get ahold of you?
Daniel
They can please visit our website at www.unicorninsurance.co.za
Ruben
So that's it for this episode. We'll be back next time to focus a little bit more about getting into specifically flying abroad with your drones and what type of insurance you will need for that. Also the claiming process, it's very important to understand that so all of that will be available on the next episode, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, also on Facebook and on Instagram. And now also on LinkedIn. We'll see you next time. Cheers. Transcribed by https://otter.ai