Flight and Space

History

Airships

During the first world war, Lloyd’s famously provided cover for bombing raids carried out by Count Zeppelin’s airships – and, over the next ten years, there was a concerted global effort to develop a commercial airship which, it was thought, would be lighter and cheaper than aircraft.

There was a series of ill-starred experiments, from the US Roma, which burst into flame, to the Shenandoah, which crashed spectacularly in 1925 on its 57th flight. When the Graf Zeppelin successfully circumnavigated the world in 1929, confidence was perilously restored, until the British airship R101, bound for Karachi in 1930, came down, killing 48, over France. Britain bowed out of the airship race, but the Germans and Americans persevered – until, in 1937, Germany’s passenger airship the Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed, along with 35 of its passengers. It had been insured by Lloyd’s.

German hindenburg exploding, May 6, 1937

Air India crash – 1984

On 23 June 1985 Air India flight 182 disintegrated in mid-air enroute from Montreal to London, at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 m) over the Atlantic Ocean, as a result of a bomb explosion – killing all 329 people on board. It was initially unclear whether the event was an accident or an act of terrorism, but the Lloyd‘s claims department was keen that people had the money they needed quickly, and so brokered an interim deal between the all-risk and war risk underwriters.

Space shuttle challenger disaster – 1986

On 28 January 1986, the space shuttle Challenger set off on its final mission following ten previous missions and over 62 days in space. It broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew aboard. The mission had been delayed several days due to freezing weather; investigations in the follow up to the disaster found that a seal on the rocket booster had failed due to a combination of a faulty design and inability to cope with the cold weather conditions.

All seven of the crew had signed routine waivers which absolved the US government of any liability in the event of death. Only one of the crew had any coverage, Christa McAuliffe – a school teacher, who would have been the first civilian to go into space. The policy was a gift to McAuliffe from Corrow & Black, an international satellite and space insurance firm, and the pay-out was arranged the day after her death, through the Lloyd’s market.

“In the circumstances we would have expected Lloyds to move with speed and sympathy, and they have behaved magnificently,” said Mike Hemmings of Crawley Warren, the brokerage that placed the policy with Lloyds underwriters.

Following the disaster, the government and Morton Thiokol, the manufacturer of the faulty rocket booster which contributed to the disaster, paid out over $7m cash and annuities to settle all claims with four of the families of the crew members of the shuttle. Morton Thiokol contributed $4.6m and the government contributed $3m.

Malaysian airlines flight MH370 disappearance – 2014

Flight MH370 was en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished early 8 March 2014, with 239 people on board. Although no wreckage was found, satellite data indicated the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean thousands of miles from land.

Even as searchers continued to scour the Indian Ocean for wreckage Lloyd's said it stood ready to pay out claims for the loss. The final hours of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 remain shrouded in mystery.