"T o d d P a t t i s t" wrote in message
...
"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATcox.net wrote:

I found it, I found it. At least I think I did.

"Criminal penalty for pilots operating in air transportation without an
airman's certificate"

This is jail time for pilots operating in "air
transportation." In typical FAA fashion, air transportation
is somewhat circularly defined under FAR 1 as : "Air
transportation" means interstate, overseas, or foreign air
transportation or the transportation of mail by aircraft."

However, FAR 1 goes on to define "foreign air
transportation," "interstate air transportation," etc. and
they all refer to "the carriage by aircraft of persons or
property as a common carrier for compensation or hire, or
the carriage of mail by aircraft"

The bottom line is that this jail statute only covers flying
as a "common carrier," not joyriding or typical private
pilot flying.

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I found the definition of air transportation and posted in a message a
minute ago but you are narrowing the definition a little far. If the
joyriding crosses state lines it is clearly interstate and as I mentioned
the Feds have been known to take a pretty wide view of what interstate
means.