Ultralight for hire?

CowboyJake

CowboyJake

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CowboyJake98
Since an ultralight isn't an airplane could I potentially fly it for hire without a commercial pilots license or would I need a commercial drivers license??
 
Hmmm.... Interesting question. I don't have the FAR in front of me, but I believe limitations on commercial flying relate to the type of license, not the type of aircraft. If you're flying an air vehicle that doesn't require a license, maybe there's not a restriction???

Beats me.
 
Neither, it's a sport pilots certificate that you'll need if it's a tandem seat aircraft. No license is required for a single seat trike.

Anywho, Ultralight aircraft are for sport and recreation only. No joy Cowboy!
 
Ultralight aircraft are for sport and recreation only. No joy Cowboy!
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You can fly drones for hire isn't there a way around it somehow.
 
CowboyJake said:
You can fly drones for hire isn't there a way around it somehow.
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I'm not an expert, but the only two options that come to mind are:

a) obtain an airworthiness cert for the ultralight and operate under the non-ultalight rules. No idea if it's feasible to do so. You may be able to get an airworthiness cert, but it's quite possible it will prohibit commercial operations. Even if you managed to get the aircraft legal for commercial operations, then you'd be need a commercial pilot cert for nearly any for hire operation.

b) obtain a waiver to part 103 to allow commercial ops. I suspect this is unlikely at best.

Either option would require the FAA's blessing in some form. Absent some very unusual circumstances, I'm doubtful you'd get that.
 
CowboyJake said:
You can fly drones for hire isn't there a way around it somehow.
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Drones and Ultralights are two different things.

\__[Ô]__/ said:
I'm not an expert, but the only two options that come to mind are:

a) obtain an airworthiness cert for the ultralight and operate under the non-ultalight rules. No idea if it's feasible to do so. You may be able to get an airworthiness cert, but it's quite possible it will prohibit commercial operations. Even if you managed to get the aircraft legal for commercial operations, then you'd be need a commercial pilot cert for nearly any for hire operation.

b) obtain a waiver to part 103 to allow commercial ops. I suspect this is unlikely at best.

Either option would require the FAA's blessing in some form. Absent some very unusual circumstances, I'm doubtful you'd get that.
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I see neither one of those ever happening.
 
Ryanb said:
I see neither one of those ever happening.
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I wouldn't say never... but yeah, I'd be quite surprised to hear of someone successfully doing either.
They are however, the only "way around" options I can think of right now.
 
\__[Ô]__/ said:
I wouldn't say never... but yeah, I'd be quite surprised to hear of someone successfully doing either.
They are however, the only "way around" options I can think of right now.
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I would say never, at least for now. The regs are pretty clear.
 
Just for debate lets say I got hired to work on a big ranch in Montana. Would it be illegal to check cows with and ultralight and wouldn't that be for hire?
 
Check cows, get paid, nobody cares. And yes, you need a commercial truck driving license to check cows. ;)
 
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