Press Releases - October 25, 2006

Great News for Columbia Owners from Avemco!

Frederick, MD – (Oct. 25, 2006)…

Columbia pilots and owners now have one more option when shopping insurance thanks to Avemco Insurance Company, the nation's only direct underwriter of aviation insurance. Recently, representatives from the Bend, Oregon manufacturer met with senior management to review Columbia's FAA/Industry Training Standards (FITS) curriculum for training pilots on how to fly glass cockpits in technically advanced aircraft. Now Columbia 350 and 400 pilots have the benefit of even more choices when buying aviation insurance.

Avemco met with Columbia at the suggestion of Frank Crystal & Company, the insurance broker of record for Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation. "The broker also sells insurance to individual Columbia owners, so the cooperation with a competing company in underwriting Columbia aircraft owners was a particularly gracious gesture," said Avemco's executive vice president, Jim Lauerman. "It tells us that Frank Crystal is committed to making the ownership experience very strong for Columbia owners, and helps to ensure that they will have access to the entire aviation insurance marketplace."

As aviation broker for Columbia Aircraft, Frank Crystal's Lou Timpanaro, Senior Managing Director, and Rob Johns, Managing Director, have been working with the general aviation insurance marketplace to encourage competition for the benefit of Columbia owners. Upon receiving final FITS-acceptance, Crystal invited Columbia representatives Ron Wright, Vice President, and Terry Brewer, Chief Pilot, to review the curriculum with Avemco senior underwriting management. "It was enlightening and quite interesting," Lauerman said. "I can't tell you how much easier it makes our job when a manufacturer provides us with detailed information regarding the transition training they provide the new aircraft owners."

Although Avemco has insured Columbia's certified aircraft since the company started delivery in 2000, the new Columbia models are even easier to insure now that the company's training program is FITS approved. Lauerman has long been a proponent of the importance of FITS accepted training. Avemco will not normally insure pilots who fly in glass cockpits without it, and for good reason.

"Once there is a FITS accepted training syllabus for an aircraft, we know there are certain standards written into it," Lauerman says. "When the pilot completes the training, we believe they've gotten to a certain level of competency and that was the main idea behind having FITS accepted training for the new glass cockpits."

Like all FITS training, Columbia's new program is "scenario-based." Pilots are given real-world situations and are trained to apply the cockpit's modern technology to act and react to the same types of challenges they would have flying outside of the training environment. "The most advanced avionics system in the world isn't worth much to a pilot if they don't know how to use it effectively," said Columbia President Bing Lantis.

Avemco Insurance Company, a leading pleasure and business general aviation insurer in the United States, has been insuring planes and pilots since 1961. Headquartered in Frederick, Maryland, Avemco is rated A+ (Superior) by A. M. Best Company and AA (Very Strong) by Standard & Poor's. Avemco is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HCC) an international insurance holding company and a leading specialty insurance group since 1974 with assets exceeding $7 billion.