You’ve fallen in love with paramotoring. You strap a $7,000 two-stroke gasoline motor and a propeller to your back, clip into a paraglider wing, and take off from a local field.
One afternoon, the wind shifts violently during your landing approach. Your wing collapses, and you crash hard into a parked car in the adjacent lot. You suffer a broken pelvis, and the spinning propeller slices through the car’s hood, causing $12,000 in damage. You are rushed to the hospital. Your spouse calls your auto insurance, your homeowners insurance, and your life insurance agent to figure out who is paying for the car and your medical bills. The answer is a terrifying void.
The Brutal Truth: Why Standard Policies Deny This Claim
Paramotoring triggers the most absolute, unyielding exclusion in the insurance industry: the Aviation Exclusion.
Your HO-3 Homeowners Policy liability coverage specifically excludes bodily injury or property damage arising from the ownership, maintenance, or use of aircraft. A paramotor—even an ultralight—is considered an aircraft. They will not pay for the $12,000 car you destroyed. Your auto insurance will not cover it because you weren’t driving a car.
Worse, your personal health insurance may fight the massive medical bills if they classify the hobby as a high-risk excluded activity. And if the crash had been fatal, your standard Life Insurance Policy likely contains a private aviation or extreme sports exclusion, meaning your spouse would not receive the death benefit because you died operating an experimental aircraft.
How to Actually Protect Yourself (The Fix)
When you strap an engine to your back and leave the ground, standard civilian insurance completely abandons you. You must seek aviation-specific coverage.
- Join the USPPA for Third-Party Liability: The United States Powered Paragliding Association (USPPA) offers its members a highly specialized third-party liability policy. If you crash into a car or a person, this is the only policy that will pay the damages and provide your legal defense.
- Buy High-Risk Life Insurance: Standard term-life policies exclude aviation. You must work with a high-risk life insurance broker to purchase a policy with an Aviation Rider. You will pay significantly higher premiums, but it guarantees the payout if you die in a paramotor crash.
- Insure the Gear via Inland Marine: To protect the $7,000 motor and wing from theft or fire (while stored in your garage), you need a specific Equipment Floater. Standard homeowners policies often exclude aircraft parts from personal property coverage.
The Claims Adjuster’s Secret
If you file a liability claim through the USPPA master policy, we immediately check your compliance with FAA Part 103. Part 103 governs ultralight vehicles. It explicitly states you cannot fly over congested areas or open air assemblies of persons. If we pull the GPS logs from your flight computer and see you were buzzing a crowded beach when your engine died and you crashed into a bystander, you violated federal aviation law. The insurance policy is instantly voided.
The Verdict (TL;DR)
The Risk Level: Extreme (Massive bodily injury risk paired with blanket aviation exclusions). The Solution: Secure USPPA third-party liability insurance and update your life insurance with an aviation rider. Estimated Cost: ~$100/year for USPPA liability; Life insurance premiums will vary drastically based on risk.
The sky is unregulated for ultralights, but your finances shouldn’t be; never leave the ground without aviation-specific liability.