"Bart" wrote in
oups.com:

Wade Hasbrouck wrote:
"Mxsmanic" wrote
If you have understanding passengers, fine. If they are going to a
wedding or job interview, though, this is a serious problem.

Again you are inferring that the Private Pilot can ignore FAR Part 91
and FAR 61.113 when they want to help out friends. If a friend comes
to me and says "I have a wedding or job interview to go to, could you
fly me there?", this would most likely be considered a violation of
61.113, and would be illegal for a Private Pilot to do.

That's absurd. Someone asking to be flown somewhere is in no way a
violation of the FARs. If it were, most GA pilots would be in
violation almost every time they fly.

Case in point - you said in a previous post:

" I had a coworker who wanted to go have lunch at PWT (Bremerton
National) on a Saturday morning."

So by your own interpretation, *you* are in violation of FAR 61.113.

In order for a violation to occur, there has to be compensation
(which
may or may not be monetary) which the above situations, as described,
do not include.



Not at all. You could have commitments to friends or relatives to
transport them here or there, with no money involved.

FAA could still consider this as flying for compensation, which is
prohibited under Part 91 and FAR 61.113. FAA has said that
compensation doesn't have to be monetary in nature to violate FAR
61.113.

Again - in his scenario, no compensation is described, so it is
perfectly legal. The word "commitment" does not inherently imply
compensation. A commitment is merely an obligation to an agreement.


The FAA has ruled in the past that the ability to log the flight time
(whether or not you actually do so) is in and of itself compensation.

If your friend invites you to attend the wedding, then there is no
problem, as you have a common purpose for the trip where the air
transportation is incidental. But if you are only flying to transport your
friend to the wedding and you have no other purpose in going on the flight,
then you are in violation.

There are some exceptions for private pilots as specified either in
the FARs or by FAA policy specified in the Air Transportation Operations
Inspector's Handbook, Order 8400.10. The ones I'm aware of are FAR 91.321
regarding the carriage of candidates in elections or the policy stated in
8400.10 section 1345 for "Life Flights" (like Angel Flight) where a private
pilot is allowed to take a tax deduction and inspectors are specifically
instructed not to treat this tax deductibility of costs as constituting
"compensation for hire".

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)