Let's cut through the horse****.

I'm a private pilot (no, I'm a commercial pilot, CFI, A&P, IA but let that
go for the moment).

My company sends me to a conference. The company policy pays IRS mileage
(48.5c a mile) for me to get there by private vehicle. Vehicle is
automobile, wagon train, muleback, or any other method I choose.

The company policy says that I can go by myself or carry as many other
employees as I wish in my private vehicle for the same 48.5 cents a mile.

I load up Gerry, Kelly, Sam and myself into the airplane and fly to the
conference. I'm not paid to get to the conference, just be a company
employee while I am at the conference.

I get home without incident.

I bill the company for what would have been automobile mileage and multiply
it by 48.5 cents a mile and submit it. Company pays. Case closed.

I have an accident on the way to or the way from the conference. Let the
lawyers sort it out. I was on company time; let the company lawyers decide
fault and such.

The FARs have relatively little to do with the process. You aren't being
paid to fly; you are being recompensated for getting yourself to the
conference and participating.

Then again, I've only been doing this for forty years, but what do I know?

Jim




--
"If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right."
--Henry Ford