Life Insurance for Pilots in Canada
Life insurance for pilots in Canada: how the aviation questionnaire works, which pilots get standard rates, what a flat extra or exclusion means, and costs.
Whether you fly a widebody out of Pearson, a King Air on medevac runs, a float plane in the north, or a Cessna out of Rockcliffe on weekends, the life insurance question is the same: will an insurer cover a pilot, and at what price?
The answer is yes, almost always, but the price depends on how you fly. Insurers do not treat “pilot” as one category. They treat an airline captain with fifteen thousand hours and a scheduled route as a different risk from a student pilot with forty hours, and they are right to. What you need to know is how they draw those lines, what the three possible outcomes are, and how to give yourself the best shot at a standard offer with full coverage.
This guide is for commercial and airline pilots, private and recreational pilots, flight instructors, helicopter and bush pilots, and anyone with a licence who has heard that insurers “don’t like pilots” and wants a straight answer.
The aviation questionnaire
Every life insurance application in Canada asks whether you have flown as a pilot or crew member in the past two years or intend to. Answer yes, and the insurer sends an aviation questionnaire. It is short and it asks for facts:
- Licences and ratings held (private, commercial, ATPL, instrument, multi-engine, instructor, helicopter, glider)
- Total flying hours and hours in the past 12 months
- Anticipated hours in the next 12 months
- Types of aircraft flown
- Purpose of flying: airline, corporate, charter, instruction, aerial work, medevac, personal or recreational
- Whether you fly as a crew member for an airline and on what routes
- Current Transport Canada medical category and any restrictions
- Any accidents, incidents, violations or licence suspensions
- Participation in aerobatics, air racing, crop spraying, bush or off-airport operations, or experimental aircraft
Fill it out precisely. Vague answers get treated as the higher-risk version.
Which pilots get standard rates?
The following is a general picture of how Canadian insurers tend to sort pilots. Each company has its own guidelines, and the boundaries move.
| Type of flying | Typical assessment | Usual outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled airline crew, major carrier, Category 1 medical | Lowest aviation risk | Standard, often with no aviation charge |
| Corporate or charter pilot, turbine aircraft, IFR, high hours | Low to moderate | Standard with many insurers; flat extra with some |
| Flight instructor, established school | Moderate | Standard or small flat extra |
| Private pilot, 100+ total hours, 50–200 hours per year, current medical | Moderate | Standard with aviation-friendly insurers; flat extra with others |
| Student pilot or very low hours | Higher until hours accumulate | Flat extra or temporary exclusion; reassessed later |
| Bush, float or off-airport operations | Higher | Flat extra, sometimes exclusion |
| Helicopter, aerial work, medevac | Assessed on role | Standard to flat extra |
| Aerobatics, air racing, crop spraying, experimental or homebuilt | Highest | Flat extra or exclusion; some insurers decline |
The general principle is that insurers reward experience, currency, structure and oversight. A scheduled route for a large operator, with a Category 1 medical, recurrent simulator training and two crew, is the most structured environment in aviation. A homebuilt aircraft flown alone at low altitude is the least.
The three possible outcomes
When an insurer has your questionnaire, there are three ways it can handle aviation risk.
1. Standard rates, full coverage
The insurer accepts the aviation risk within its normal pricing. This is what airline pilots usually get, and what many private pilots with solid hours get from the right insurer. It is the goal.
2. A flat extra
The insurer issues full coverage but adds a fixed charge on top of the standard premium, expressed as a dollar amount per $1,000 of coverage per year. The flat extra reflects the aviation risk specifically, so it does not scale with your health class the way a percentage rating would.
Here is how the math works, using illustrative figures. Suppose a 35-year-old non-smoker in good health is quoted a standard premium in the range of $25–$38 per month for $500,000 of 20-year term. If the insurer adds a flat extra of $2.50 per $1,000, that is $1,250 per year on $500,000, or roughly $104 per month, on top of the base premium. A flat extra of $5 per $1,000 would double that. Flat extras are commonly quoted in the range of a few dollars per $1,000 and vary with the insurer and the flying.
Flat extras can be temporary (for example, until you reach a certain number of hours) or permanent. Many insurers will reconsider a temporary flat extra on request once your hours and currency have improved.
3. An aviation exclusion
The insurer issues at standard rates but attaches a rider excluding death from flying as a pilot or crew member. Every other cause of death is covered. This keeps the premium low, but it means the policy does not pay for the one risk that makes you different from any other applicant.
For a recreational pilot who flies a few times a year, an exclusion can be an acceptable trade-off if the alternative is a large flat extra. For a working pilot, it is almost always the wrong answer, because the family is left unprotected during every working day. Our general rule: accept an exclusion only when no full-coverage offer exists, and revisit it as soon as the flying profile changes.
What moves a pilot from rated to standard
Insurers differ far more on aviation than on most risks. The same private pilot can be standard with one company, a $2.50 flat extra with another and an exclusion with a third. A few factors reliably improve the offer:
- Hours. Total hours above a few hundred and consistent annual hours matter most. Very high annual hours in recreational flying can occasionally count against you, since exposure rises too.
- Instrument rating. An IFR rating signals training and discipline and is viewed favourably.
- Current medical. A valid Transport Canada medical certificate, especially Category 1, tells the underwriter a physician has already assessed you for flying.
- Aircraft. Certified, well-maintained aircraft are viewed better than experimental or homebuilt. Twin-engine and turbine equipment is generally viewed better than single-engine piston for commercial work.
- Environment. Controlled airports and established routes over remote or off-airport operations.
- Clean record. No accidents, incidents or enforcement actions.
- The right insurer. This is the biggest lever and the one you cannot pull alone. A broker who places aviation cases regularly knows which insurers have relaxed pilot guidelines and which do not.
Before any formal application, we send an anonymous summary of your flying profile to several underwriters and ask for a tentative assessment. Nothing goes on your record, and you only apply where the answer is good.
Group coverage through an airline, and why it is not enough
Airline and many corporate pilots have group life insurance through their employer, and some have additional coverage through a union or association. It is usually a multiple of salary. It is also tied to the job, and a pilot’s job is tied to a medical certificate.
Lose your medical, and you may lose your job and your group coverage together. A pilot forced out of the cockpit at 48 by a cardiac issue or vision problem is exactly the person who then cannot buy affordable life insurance elsewhere. A personal term life policy bought while flying and healthy solves this: it is yours regardless of employment, and most Canadian term policies can be converted to permanent coverage without new medical evidence up to a set age. Our guide on group vs individual life insurance covers the broader case.
The same medical risk is why pilots should take disability insurance seriously. Loss-of-licence coverage, where available through an employer or association, is designed specifically for the grounded pilot, and a personal own-occupation disability policy can pay when you can no longer fly even if you could do other work. Our guide on own-occupation vs any-occupation disability explains why that definition matters so much for a licensed profession.
What a pilot pays
The table below shows illustrative monthly premiums for a $500,000, 20-year term policy on a healthy non-smoker at standard rates, with an illustrative flat extra shown alongside for comparison. These are indicative ranges only. Your actual rate depends on your age, health, smoking status, coverage amount, flying profile and the insurer.
| Age | Standard, no aviation charge (male) | Standard, no aviation charge (female) | Same policy with an illustrative $2.50/$1,000 flat extra |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | $20–$30 | $17–$25 | add roughly $104/month |
| 35 | $25–$38 | $21–$32 | add roughly $104/month |
| 40 | $32–$48 | $27–$40 | add roughly $104/month |
| 45 | $48–$70 | $40–$58 | add roughly $104/month |
The flat extra column illustrates why it is worth pursuing a standard offer: the aviation charge can exceed the base premium several times over for a young pilot. Our Ontario life insurance cost guide covers the other factors that move the price.
Sizing coverage for a pilot’s career
Pilot income has a distinctive shape. It is modest during training and the first commercial years, often with significant training debt, then climbs steeply with seniority at an airline, and it is fragile throughout because it depends on a medical.
That argues for buying a larger policy early, when premiums are low and the aviation profile is still being assessed, rather than waiting until seniority arrives. A 25- or 30-year term bought in your late twenties can carry you through the mortgage years and most of a flying career. Our guide on how much life insurance you need has the worksheet; for a pilot with a mortgage and a family, the result is commonly $750,000 to $1,500,000 given the income at stake.
Applying: practical tips
- Apply while current. A lapsed medical or a long gap in flying raises questions. Apply when your medical is valid and your hours are steady.
- Have your logbook handy. Underwriters may ask for hours by year and type, and accurate numbers speed things up.
- Do not round down. If you fly aerobatics twice a year, say so. An undisclosed activity discovered during the two-year contestability period can void the policy, whatever the cause of death.
- Ask about reconsideration. If you receive a flat extra, ask when and on what basis the insurer will review it.
- Apply for disability and critical illness at the same time. Aviation is treated differently on each, and it is useful to see all three offers together. See our guide to critical illness insurance.
How Hayes can help
Hayes Family Insurance is an independent, family-run brokerage in Ottawa, licensed by FSRA for all of Ontario. We compare 30+ Canadian insurers, and because their aviation guidelines differ so much, that comparison matters more for pilots than for almost any other applicant. We pre-shop your flying profile anonymously and place the application only where a strong offer is likely.
Our advice costs you nothing; the insurer pays us. Compare quotes from 30+ Canadian insurers in about two minutes, or contact us with your licence, ratings and hours and we will tell you what to expect before you apply.
Frequently asked questions
Can pilots get life insurance in Canada?
Yes. Most pilots can be insured. Airline pilots on scheduled routes are usually issued at standard rates, and most private and commercial pilots can be covered either at standard rates, with a flat extra premium for aviation risk, or with an aviation exclusion. The offer depends on the type of flying, hours, ratings and the insurer's aviation guidelines.
Do pilots pay more for life insurance?
It depends on the flying. Scheduled airline pilots generally pay the same as non-pilots. Private pilots with reasonable hours and a current medical often get standard rates from aviation-friendly insurers, while higher-risk flying such as aerobatics, crop spraying, bush operations or low hours may attract a flat extra, typically quoted as a few dollars per $1,000 of coverage per year.
What is an aviation exclusion on life insurance?
An aviation exclusion is a rider that removes coverage for death caused by flying as a pilot or crew member, while the policy pays for all other causes. It lets an insurer issue at standard rates to a pilot it would otherwise rate. For a working pilot, an exclusion leaves the family unprotected against the most obvious risk, so we usually try to avoid it unless no full-coverage offer is available.
Does the aviation questionnaire ask about drones or paragliding?
Most aviation questionnaires focus on piloting powered aircraft, gliders and helicopters. Activities such as hang gliding, paragliding, skydiving and ultralights are usually covered by a separate hazardous sports questionnaire and are assessed on their own. Drone operation is not generally treated as aviation risk for life insurance.