Does General Liability Insurance Cover “Hangar Rash” to a Customer Aircraft?

Not necessarily. If a customer’s aircraft is in your care, custody or control, damage to that aircraft generally falls into the hangarkeepers exposure rather than ordinary premises liability.

That distinction matters for FBOs, MROs and other aviation businesses that routinely park, tow, store or service customer aircraft.

What is “hangar rash”?

“Hangar rash” is an informal aviation term for damage that occurs while an aircraft is being handled or stored on the ground.

Examples might include an aircraft being:

Moved into another object while being towed
Damaged while being repositioned in a hangar
Struck by equipment during servicing
Damaged while on jacks
Damaged while otherwise entrusted to an FBO or maintenance provider

A seemingly minor incident can become a substantial claim when sophisticated or high-value aircraft are involved.

Why ordinary general liability may not be enough

The important insurance concept is care, custody or control.

At an airport or aviation service company, nce a customer entrusts an aircraft to your business, the loss may fall outside the ordinary premises liability portion of an Aviation Commercial General Liability policy.

Instead, Hangarkeepers Legal Liability is designed to address damage to non-owned aircraft while those aircraft are in the insured’s care, custody or control.

This is why simply confirming that an FBO has “general aircraft liability insurance” does not answer the real coverage question.

The limit matters as much as the coverage

Having hangarkeepers coverage is only useful if the limits reflect the aircraft your operation actually handles.

Consider:

What is the most valuable customer aircraft likely to be entrusted to you?
How many customer aircraft could be damaged in one incident?
Could a hangar fire, weather event or other occurrence affect several aircraft simultaneously?
Has your customer mix changed since the limits were established?

An operation originally designed around light aircraft may now regularly handle multimillion-dollar turbine equipment while still carrying limits established years earlier.

Don't assume the policy responds

Exact coverage depends on the policy wording, cause of loss, exclusions and circumstances surrounding the claim.

That is why aviation businesses should review both the coverage form and the actual operational exposure.

If customer aircraft are routinely in your care, ask Aeris to review whether your hangarkeepers limits still reflect the risk your business is carrying.