Why it matters for your company
The exclusion is why a drone operator's general liability rarely answers a crash. The aircraft risk is written on an aviation liability form instead, or brought back into general liability for small unmanned aircraft by endorsement.
Manufacturers face a narrower version of the question. A company that builds drones but does not fly them still has product liability exposure for aircraft it sold, and whether the general liability form's aircraft exclusion or an aviation products exclusion reaches those claims is a wording question to settle before the first unit ships.
Related terms
- Aviation liabilityLiability insurance written on an aviation form for injury and property damage caused by operating aircraft, including drones. It fills the gap the general liability aircraft exclusion leaves.
- Non-owned aviation liabilityLiability coverage for aircraft your business uses but does not own, such as drones flown by contractors or rented for a job. It protects the company when a hired pilot's flight causes harm.
- Hull coveragePhysical damage insurance on an aircraft itself, including a drone and often its payload and ground equipment. It is the aviation equivalent of equipment coverage.
- ExclusionA clause that removes a type of loss, activity or property from what a policy responds to. Exclusions sit in the base form and in endorsements, and at claim time they decide the outcome more often than the coverage grant does.