"Bart" wrote in
ups.com:

Marty Shapiro wrote:
"Bart" wrote:
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.

As long as the pilot pays for the entire cost of operating the
aircraft (ie - no pro rata sharing of expenses), it is legal.

Logging flight time is considered compensation on flights where there
is sharing of expenses. The added "compensation" to the pilot (beyond
the sharing of expenses) of being able to log flight time violates the
pro rata.



Inspector's for at least 2 FSDO's that I'm aware of say otherwise.
They were very clear in different Wings safety seminars that providing air
transportation for a friend is NOT permitted for a private pilot. One even
stated that the FAA added the definition of logging time as compensation
for this exact case, where the pilot does not charge at all. They
empasized that unless you were going to make the trip regardless of whether
or not your friend was going along, you would be violating the FARs.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)