FAA rule change for charity flights?

"Ben Haas" wrote in message om...
Hi Guys, Another one of our local EAA members emailed me with news the
FAA is wanting to increase the total time a pilot has from 200 hours
to 500 before they can give rides in a plane. This was brought up
because our chapter is really active the the Young Eagles program and
some of the newest members are under the 500 hour mark. The comment
period has supposeably been extended 90 days. Any body else heard of
such a thing. Also they are wanting to cut out sightseeing flights
too.

There's not even a 200 hour limit for Young Eagles. All you need is the normal
pilot-in-command requirements for carrying passengers in general, EAA membership,
and minimal insurance. The current NPRM doesn't affect any of that.

The rules that are talking about cover carrying passengers for hire, either for sightseeing
or charity fundraisers. Both of these currently enjoy relaxation of the rules for commercial
operators. The YE program doesn't fit in this in that nobody is getting charged. Of course,
the whole NPRM justification is flawed. The example cases that they use to justify it happened
by operators already subject to Part 135 rules. It's not clear what the point of this
rule is other than to put a lot of operators out of business and to completely eliminate
certain kinds of flying.