"Peter" wrote in message
...

"Dude" wrote

They know you are renting out the plane?

Of course. One has to make a full disclosure to the insurer; under UK
insurance law they can walk away from any claim otherwise.


Believe it or not, I have had this conversation before with people who had a
different answer. In the US, though.

over here a "complex checkout" is not necessarily in the same model.

Same here.

Still, I wonder. I unless you are talking about something really simple,
or
know the instructor that did the sign off, are you really going to believe
the log book?

That's a good point. Take the case of a flying club, or any group
sharing an aircraft. Let's say they take on board a new member. They
will want to check out that he can really fly. Are you saying that the
checkout flight must be done with an instructor?

That would be different. That's a club. You are doing a "dry lease" which
is really close to being a "dry rental".

Around here, there are several types of clubs, and ones that operate like
you do are generally doing 100 hour inspections to keep the Feds happy.
Clubs with very few members who are usually equity partners would get by
with this arrangement, but not non-equity clubs. My FSDO would be happy to
call that instruction without a CFI license.


That's not what
happens in reality, especially if the aircraft is something reasonably
advanced when few if any available instructors will be familiar with
it anyway.

That is not the point. When money is changing hands, the Feds get more
strict about what is "charter" and "instruction". The more it looks like
duck, the more it will be treated like a duck. And you are looking a lot
like a duck who is dodging the 100 hr. and CFI bullets with a "dry lease".

I don't think the checkout flight needs to be done with a
legal instructor IF the new member (or new renter if the group works
by renting to its members, as some do) is already technically legal to
be PIC in that aircraft.


I believe its a fine line, and I would want a memo from someone at the FAA
before I went forth and tried it.

This has red flags all over it. I would be worried over here that they
would try to claim that you are either doing virtual instruction or
virtual
charter.

Please see above. I don't think they could claim that, since no
instruction is legally required.

Why would someone suggest that charter is taking place? The pilot
being checked out is paying for the flight; he's not a paying
passenger.

This is an area which I have discussed with my insurance broker and he
is free to check with the insurance company. Their lawyers are the
best there are. But they won't give an opinion; they just say "you
have to remain legal". Really useful!


Their lack of wanting to give an opinion could be overly defensive, or it
could be telling. I think they just don't really know what the FAA guy who
stumbles upon you will say. Also, they want to be able to hedge their bets
if you crash. At any rate, more than one flight school has been busted for
"134 and a half" charters. This is where a pilot or student pilot flies
with an instructor in order to get somewhere rather than to really have a
lesson.

So anyway, your guy is not even an instructor. I suppose you could do a
"demonstration flight" in order to sell the lease. This would only require
the checkout pilot to have 200 hours, but he is PIC for the entire flight.

If the plane is ever has to be flown back to your airport because it is left
elsewhere by a renter, then the pilot fetching it will need to be commercial
(unless it is the owner). However, if you send him along with the renter to
bring the plane back, then he had better not sit up front or you risk
getting nailed as a 134 and a half.

Bottom line from me to you is that this is not an area where I would ask
forgiveness rather than permission.




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