"Guilty" of Flying the Wrong Pattern?

Jim Logajan wrote in
:

Newps wrote:
Government agencies are not required to abide by the FAR's. Many do
to make it easier on themselves but they are not required to.

That can't be right. At least not such a blanket exemption. All I can
find is some exemptions for certain operations mention in 5-6-3 of the
AIM.

Do you have a cite?

From the FAR 1.1 definitions:

Civil aircraft means aircraft other than public aircraft.

Public Aircraft:

(1) An aircraft used only for the United States Government; an aircraft
owned by the Government and operated by any person for purposes related to
crew training, equipment development, or demonstration; an aircraft owned
and operated by the government of a State, the District of Columbia, or a
territory or possession of the United States or a political subdivision of
one of these governments; or an aircraft exclusively leased for at least 90
continuous days by the government of a State, the District of Columbia, or
a territory or possession of the United States or a political subdivision
of one of these governments.

Look carefully at the start of FAR 61.3. Note that it only requires a
pilot certificate for a civil aircraft. It does NOT require a certificate
for a public aircraft.

§ 61.3 Requirement for certificates, ratings, and authorizations.

(a) Pilot certificate. A person may not act as pilot in command or in any
other capacity as a required pilot flight crewmember of a civil aircraft of
U.S. registry, unless that person—

(1) Has a valid pilot certificate or special purpose pilot authorization
issued under this part in that person's physical possession or readily
accessible in the aircraft when exercising the privileges of that pilot
certificate or authorization. However, when the aircraft is operated within
a foreign country, a current pilot license issued by the country in which
the aircraft is operated may be used; and ...

As a mater of regulation, pilots of public aircraft do not have to
have a pilot's certificate. As a mater of policy, most governmental
agencies do require their pilots to have one or their own equivalent (eg.
the military).

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)