Legal Flight? You decide...

Captain

Final Approach
Joined
Mar 12, 2012
Messages
8,002
Location
NOYB
Display Name

Display name:
First Officer
Guy has a PPSEL. Got his training part 61 from mom & pop shop. After getting his PPL the owner of the shop asks him to take one of the planes to another airport to be looked at by the avionics shop there. No money is given to the pilot but he isn't charged for any portion of the flight either.

Why or why not legal?
 
Guy has a PPSEL. Got his training part 61 from mom & pop shop. After getting his PPL the owner of the shop asks him to take one of the planes to another airport to be looked at by the avionics shop there. No money is given to the pilot but he isn't charged for any portion of the flight either.

Why or why not legal?

Legal as long as he doesn't log the flight time. It has been cited that that logged time is compensation.:(
 
This reminds me of an old joke about what happens when you throw a banjo, bagpipes, and ukulele out a ten story window, i.e. which hits the ground first?

The answer to my question and yours is the same. Who cares?
 
This reminds me of an old joke about what happens when you throw a banjo, bagpipes, and ukulele out a ten story window, i.e. which hits the ground first?

The answer to my question and yours is the same. Who cares?

Now I want to know if you knew how to spell 'ukulele' or did auto correct figure it out for you?
 
Legal as long as he doesn't log the flight time. It has been cited that that logged time is compensation.:(

I'm sure it was logged. Besides, why wouldn't you document experience obtained?
 
Illegal. Compensated with flight time.
 
Last edited:
Is it a flight school or a flight club? If it's a club then there is a monthly fee, in which case none of the flights that you do for the club are really free.
 
Guy has a PPSEL. Got his training part 61 from mom & pop shop. After getting his PPL the owner of the shop asks him to take one of the planes to another airport to be looked at by the avionics shop there. No money is given to the pilot but he isn't charged for any portion of the flight either.

Why or why not legal?

I think legally it would be fine, the new pilot is basically doing the flight school a favor on his time voluntarily. No money changes hands, so no violation. I would even think logging it would be OK. Again no money is changing hands. If a private individual allows a friend to fly their plane, there is no reason that flight would not be log-able. This would seem like a similar situation, but I am not a lawyer. Can you cite were this is not a log-able flight for a licensed pilot?
 
I'm sure it was logged. Besides, why wouldn't you document experience obtained?

Because it's incriminating yourself with your own documentation of an offense nobody gives a **** about. You asked if it was legal, if the guy logs the time without paying for the fuel and oil, it's illegal. If he doesn't log the time, then it's legal, simple as that.
 
Because it's incriminating yourself with your own documentation

That depends on what the guy puts in the comments. If he puts enough information in there to proof that the flight was illegal and then signs it, then he is incriminating himself. If he just logs it and writes "fun flight" in the comments, or something along those lines, then there is no proof in that logbook that the flight was illegal.
 
Legal as long as he doesn't log the flight time. It has been cited that that logged time is compensation.:(
It's not legal unless the pilot involved pays the operating expenses of the flight, defined in 61.113 as "fuel, oil, airport expenditures, or rental fees". 61.113(a) is being violated because "no person who holds a private pilot certificate may ... for compensation or hire, act as pilot in command of an aircraft," and in this case, the PP is providing pilot services in exchange for loggable flight time. The fact that the flight is loggable is enough to nail you. See the Bobertz memo, page 3, first paragraph -- the fact that one chooses not to log the flight isn't sufficient to keep you out of trouble.
 
Is it a flight school or a flight club? If it's a club then there is a monthly fee, in which case none of the flights that you do for the club are really free.
Only if that monthly fee includes some minimum number of flight hours (which some clubs do), and the hours flown are deducted from that total. Otherwise, that doesn't cover the full operating cost of the flight, and that's the FAA standard.
 
If someone drops a dime,your not legal. Flying for compensation.
 
BTW, I know that everyone involved wants this to be legal, and will come up with all sorts of arguments to support their hope, but wishing will not make it so.
 
And yet it's legal for a kid to fly his parent's airplane upon request to the same avionics shop without paying anything.

Exact same situation.

61.113 doesn't state "except for relatives"
 
And yet it's legal for a kid to fly his parent's airplane upon request to the same avionics shop without paying anything.
No, it isn't. You're confusing the legality of a parent giving free flying time to a child without condition with the legality of exacting a quid pro quo from a pilot in exchange for free flying. What I think you're assuming is that nobody will ever complain to the FAA about the parent-child situation, and I think you're right, but that doesn't change the legality of what is happening, only whether or not the FAA actually gets involved.
 
No, it isn't. You're confusing the legality of a parent giving free flying time to a child without condition with the legality of exacting a quid pro quo from a pilot in exchange for free flying. What I think you're assuming is that nobody will ever complain to the FAA about the parent-child situation, and I think you're right, but that doesn't change the legality of what is happening, only whether or not the FAA actually gets involved.

Unless you can show me a ruling where a kid was busted for it, it is, for all intents and purposes, legal.
 
BTW, I know that everyone involved wants this to be legal, and will come up with all sorts of arguments to support their hope, but wishing will not make it so.

So why is the FAA doing this?

Lets discuss the original scenario. A flight school (or whatever) wants to help out a private pilot and let him get some more experience. So they need to move an airplane to get a mechanic to look at it, instead of using one of their pilots they offer the opportunity to this new private pilot. This way the school doesn't loose money as they would have had to do the flight anyways and the private pilot has an opportunity to get some more experience.
We all know flying is expensive, maybe the private pilot is short on money and the school is just trying to help him out? What's wrong with that? The guy can't afford to fly much and the school is trying to help him out, that's a very moral thing to do if you ask me.
Then you have the FAA who say that no you can't help the guy out, he needs to find his own money to fly. Now what's the logic behind this? Seems rather immoral.
 
So why is the FAA doing this?

Lets discuss the original scenario. A flight school (or whatever) wants to help out a private pilot and let him get some more experience. So they need to move an airplane to get a mechanic to look at it, instead of using one of their pilots they offer the opportunity to this new private pilot. This way the school doesn't loose money as they would have had to do the flight anyways and the private pilot has an opportunity to get some more experience.
We all know flying is expensive, maybe the private pilot is short on money and the school is just trying to help him out? What's wrong with that? The guy can't afford to fly much and the school is trying to help him out, that's a very moral thing to do if you ask me.
Then you have the FAA who say that no you can't help the guy out, he needs to find his own money to fly. Now what's the logic behind this? Seems rather immoral.


The FAA has to keep itself relevant somehow.
 
maybe he borrowed the airplane . . . . and the guy forgot to send him a bill for the fuel.

My mechanic has one of the guys fly me back over to the airport when I drop off the airplane for the annual and then to bring me back to pick up the airplane when its ready. . . . I know that is an operation requiring a commercial certificate- so I make sure that I'm in the airplane and we say that for the purposes of this flight that I am PIC . . . .
 
Back to the original scenario . . .

The pilot needs or wants more hours. The owner of the aircraft needs the airplane moved from point A to point B.

Why is this not a common purpose? it is -

So - technically - the pilot needs to bear his share of the fuel and oil . . . . its a 20 min flight. Using 4 gallons of fuel. And 1/5 qt of oil Total cost: $26. Split the cost $13.

FAA is now happy, Geesh.
 
What if the shop rented him the plane at a discounted rate, say $1.00 and he logged some hours flying to an Avionics Shop and back home. Is this Legal?
 
So why is the FAA doing this?
Because if they don't make it a very starkly clear strict rule, Private Pilts will be using arguments like Ed's to try to get away with providing air transportation and/or pilot services for compensation/hire, and by Congressional decree, the FAA is bound to establish higher standards for operations where people are paying (either in cash or otherwise) for air transportation or pilot services.

Lets discuss the original scenario. A flight school (or whatever) wants to help out a private pilot and let him get some more experience. So they need to move an airplane to get a mechanic to look at it, instead of using one of their pilots they offer the opportunity to this new private pilot. This way the school doesn't loose money as they would have had to do the flight anyways and the private pilot has an opportunity to get some more experience.
We all know flying is expensive, maybe the private pilot is short on money and the school is just trying to help him out? What's wrong with that? The guy can't afford to fly much and the school is trying to help him out, that's a very moral thing to do if you ask me.
Then you have the FAA who say that no you can't help the guy out, he needs to find his own money to fly. Now what's the logic behind this? Seems rather immoral.
"'Seems', madam? I know not 'seems'".

The FAA is in the business of enforcing the regulations they have written by direction of Congress with the ultimate purpose of protection of the public. They are not in the morality business, and they are not charged with finding ways to lower the cost of building flight experience.

Mind you -- I'm not defending or supporting the FAA's rules, nor am I criticizing them -- just explaining them.
 
Back to the original scenario . . .

The pilot needs or wants more hours. The owner of the aircraft needs the airplane moved from point A to point B.

Why is this not a common purpose? it is -
No, it is not, because the owner of the plane is not in the plane. Common purpose requires that all parties be in the plane and have reason to be going to the same destination at the same time. There is no "common purpose" exception in the regulations for carriage of cargo or moving airplanes -- that paragraph of 61.113 is specific to sharing of expenses with passengers.

So - technically - the pilot needs to bear his share of the fuel and oil . . . . its a 20 min flight. Using 4 gallons of fuel. And 1/5 qt of oil Total cost: $26. Split the cost $13.

FAA is now happy, Geesh.
No, they're not. And this is another example of the sort of argument that drives the FAA to make and interpret this rule in the strictest possible manner -- which they've said they do in writing on several occasions.
 
As I said, people will come up with all sorts of arguments to suggest it's legal.

But it's not.

I never suggested that the original scenario was legal. I am saying that if the FAA is going to bust the person in the OP for it, then they better damn well bust the kid for it. If they don't, then anyone who was ever busted under the same scenario better be overturned.
 
What if the shop rented him the plane at a discounted rate, say $1.00 and he logged some hours flying to an Avionics Shop and back home. Is this Legal?
No. The FAA will see through this in a heartbeat, since the discounted rate is contingent on the provision of the pilot service.

But again, we see an argument of the sort that drives the FAA to make and interpret the regulations in the strictest manner.
 
I never suggested that the original scenario was legal. I am saying that if the FAA is going to bust the person in the OP for it, then they better damn well bust the kid for it. If they don't, then anyone who was ever busted under the same scenario better be overturned.
Legal nonsense. The fact that an offense is never discovered by the authorities does not provide grounds for overturning an enforcement action against someone else for doing the same thing. Doubt me? Just tell the judge that you want your speeding ticket dismissed because another car passed you going even faster 10 miles before you reached the speed trap.
 
The fact that the flight is loggable is enough to nail you. See the Bobertz memo, page 3, first paragraph -- the fact that one chooses not to log the flight...
Why do continue to cite cases that don't support your stance?

The first paragraph on page three states exactly what Henning asserted...that if you don't log it, it's okay.
 
Why do continue to cite cases that don't support your stance?

The first paragraph on page three states exactly what Henning asserted...that if you don't log it, it's okay.

That's not what it said.
 
More mental masturbation.:rolleyes2:

While I worked as an Inspector never once did I see or hear "there's a kid down at the flight school that flew an airplane for them over to the avionics shop. We better get an Inspector on this right away!"

If I had gone to my FLM with something like this the response would have been "you obviously don't have enough to do in your work program do you?" :nonod:
 
More mental masturbation.:rolleyes2:

While I worked as an Inspector never once did I see or hear "there's a kid down at the flight school that flew an airplane for them over to the avionics shop. We better get an Inspector on this right away!"

If I had gone to my FLM with something like this the response would have been "you obviously don't have enough to do in your work program do you?" :nonod:

I'm thinking it would start with an innocent ramp check and escalate depending on the Inspector.
 
Because it's illegal to do so?

Logging what you do is NEVER, in itself, illegal. The thing you're doing may be illegal, but the act of writing down what you did isn't.
 
I'm thinking it would start with an innocent ramp check and escalate depending on the Inspector.

More Internet myths.

Something like this is not worth the time and the paperwork to pursue. If the Inspector could get this by his FLM (doubtful) the Region Attorney would kick it back.

Tilting at windmills.....
 
Must be something in the water....this thread pairs nicely with all the other "is xxxxx dangerous" threads.

Dunno, I was talking to this pilot today. He told me the story and I mentioned it probably wasn't legal. I may show him this thread when I see him again.
 
Let's be honest here weather legal this that or any other bs no one here is not going to go do that free flight !!!
 
Dunno, I was talking to this pilot today. He told me the story and I mentioned it probably wasn't legal. I may show him this thread when I see him again.
It isn't the original question....it is (as R&W) pointed out the mental masturbation that produces two pages of replies in two hours.
 
Back
Top