Cost sharing revisited

I started a thread about a week ago in which I passed on something I was
told by AOPA two or three times. You can be in violation of your private
pilot privileges if you make a flight solely to accommodate the needs of
your passenger, even if you accept no reimbursement for costs.

A number of people questioned this. AOPA sent me some supporting materials.
These materials did not support what they told me. I just had another
conversation with someone who sounded more knowledgeable.

For the record:

I am now satisfied that those who objected to this position were right. As
long as you do not share costs, accept any reimbursement, or gain other
direct or indirect financial advantage (such as free or reduced cost flight
time), you can fly anybody anywhere.

--
Roger Long

"Roger Long" om wrote in message
...

I am now satisfied that those who objected to this position were right. As
long as you do not share costs, accept any reimbursement, or gain other
direct or indirect financial advantage (such as free or reduced cost flight
time), you can fly anybody anywhere.

There are two issues: what a private pilot can do and what requires a
commerical OPERATOR (not pilot) certificate. You can not offer to
"fly anybody anywhere" without tripping over the line into the air commerce.
The FAA has stomped on such operations before. If you want to make
yourself yet another test case, go ahead.

Sorry, excellent point brought about by recycling fuzzy wording. A public
offer to fly "anybody, anywhere" such as on a college bulletin board will
get you busted, even if you only wanted the company and didn't plan to
accept any money. You can do whatever you want for your friends however.

To go back to the original scenario:

If your neighbor rushes in, says her mother just died, and asks if you would
fly her to the funeral, you can. You just can not accept even a penny of
reimbursement for any of the costs of the flight.

On the other hand, if you knew the mother, would have been attending the
funeral anyway, you can offer to fly down and split the costs evenly. Costs
are limited to rental, fuel, tiedowns, etc. Things like amortized
maintenance and insurance costs can not be included.

Again, if there is a question, it will probably be decided by what the
passenger tells the FAA. Make sure your passengers know what to say or you
could be busted even for a flight that was legit.

--
Roger Long

Ron Natalie wrote in message
. ..


There are two issues: what a private pilot can do and what requires a
commerical OPERATOR (not pilot) certificate. You can not offer to
"fly anybody anywhere" without tripping over the line into the air
commerce.
The FAA has stomped on such operations before. If you want to make
yourself yet another test case, go ahead.