The UK has the problem with all owners being jointly liable.
It is an issue in practice only if the following conditions are met:
The 2nd one especially is very rare in GA.
On the last one, I personally know one guy (in Ireland at the time) whose homebuilt was apparently sabotaged (the elevator linkage was bent with a Mole wrench until nearly broken off), he crashed on takeoff, wrote off a helicopter belonging to the chief tax collector (not kidding), etc. A 10 year legal battle followed and in the end he had to sell his house; 250k I think. But then that was Ireland and the owner/operator was the pilot so what followed was obvious. I believe he was also not insured…
Peter wrote:
The 2nd one especially is very rare in GA.
But as you write in that example with the helicopter, if it happens it can be really expensive. The worst case that I can remember was that German CitationJet which caused a large disaster in Milano Linate with 118 fatalities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linate_Airport_disaster). The same could have happened with a Cessna 172.
Regarding the original question, I think it is very much dependent on the country in which the company and aircraft are registered. When I had a 1/3 share each in a Pa44 and C421 in the 1990ies, we registered two separate companies for these aircraft. But the rules have since changed.
Is all that true, or just a good yarn?
On the last one, I personally know one guy (in Ireland at the time) whose homebuilt was apparently sabotaged (the elevator linkage was bent with a Mole wrench until nearly broken off), he crashed on takeoff, wrote off a helicopter belonging to the chief tax collector (not kidding), etc. A 10 year legal battle followed and in the end he had to sell his house; 250k I think. But then that was Ireland and the owner/operator was the pilot so what followed was obvious. I believe he was also not insured…
I knew the guy for about 20 years.
A close friend of my ex 
and now living in the UK. After my divorce in 1999 he dropped out of contact, more or less, as tends to happen.
He did have a rather “live and let live” approach to a lot of things and – as occasionally happens in GA in that case – paid for it. In GA, your “luck credits” get used up quick. However he did say that his insurer told him they would not have paid out anyway because the cover did not cover sabotage.
There were allegations about who did the bending but I won’t repeat them here, obviously.
He stood for Parliament and lost his deposit.
What would be the perceived benefits be of operating a non equity syndicate aircraft. Owned under a limited company be. What would the advantages be over private ownership
Do you mean pure rental?
Yes purely rental
See previous thread(s) for the reasons for using a ltd company.
The main drawback in the UK is the BIK. I cannot see any way to manage that if you own the company and are the sole director. A nominee director won’t protect you as you’d be a ghost director anyway.
The corporate veil is certainly efficient if someone else crashes the plane. But it won’t protect the pilot who remains responsible of the consequences of an unintended flight path, owner or not.
What the point in being insured if the insurance does not cover such a thing as sabotage? Doesn’t your insurance cover that?
What the point in being insured if the insurance does not cover such a thing as sabotage? Doesn’t your insurance cover that?
You would need to check that. I don’t want to say something in this case (not least because I know only the one side of the story, and there are always two sides) but let’s say that insurance issues are different when the loss is caused by somebody with whom you have a personal, business or contractual relationship… for example if your wife set your house on fire, you might have a job getting an insurance payout if you were still married to her at the time she did it.
Ground Risks should definitely cover vandalism by unrelated parties.
But it won’t protect the pilot who remains responsible of the consequences of an unintended flight path, owner or not.
Sure. Nobody has ever found a way to achieve that. Well, having zero assets will work, but then the challenge is how to do a lot of flying
