REFLECTOR: Splitting Flying Costs

[John Dibble]

Any time you are taking flying lessons, the instructor is getting paid
and you are going someplace that you don't necessarily want to go, other
than to receive the lesson.  The question I want answered is, how do
these people get caught?????  And how to avoid that.

John

Douglas Holub wrote:

> Willie, I think you're being a little severe with the "common purpose"
> test. In the documents you cited, the example was a pilot who wanted
> to get some flight instruction in at a reduced cost by sharing
> expenses with two guys who needed to go to Memphis. The pilot didn't
> want to go to Memphis-- he didn't care where he was going; he just
> wanted to get some flight instruction. The pilot and the accompanying
> flight instructor got their licenses suspended. But if Alex wants to
> go to Oklahoma to see a Sonerai project and I want to go to Oklahoma
> to see Noel's Velocity project, we do share a common purpose: we both
> want to go to Oklahoma. I don't think it matters if the pilot and
> passengers want to do different things when they get there. (Although,
> as a matter of fact, I do want to see the Sonerai project, too.) Doug
>
>      ----- Original Message -----
>      From: Willie.Sanchez at mail.cuny.edu
>      To: reflector at tvbf.org
>      Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 10:12 PM
>      Subject: REFLECTOR: Splitting Flying Costs
>
>
>
>      All,
>
>      I will preface this by saying, I am not a lawyer nor do I
>      play one on TV.
>
>      The splitting of cost with friends while flying is a very
>      tricky question and not as straight forward as it seems.
>      The basic rules are spelled out in
>      FAR 61.118(b).
>
>      As an example, suppose you were taking a flight from HPN to
>      MVY for a round of golf, your friend says 'Hey, my mother
>      lives on the Vineyard, can I fly up with you and split the
>      expenses
>      for flying?'  You say sure...fly round trip and split the
>      cost 50/50.  Sounds like a legit noncommercial flight and
>      the split is legal right?  Well, if you
>      answered right....you'd be wrong.  At issue is what the FAA
>      has deemed 'commonality of purpose'.
>      Since your buddy was not going to play golf with you, his
>      trip with you in this case would be ruled commercial because
>      you both took the trip for
>      different reasons and therefore you flew him there for hire.
>
>      In the situation being raised by Doug not taking any money
>      would probably be the best thing, if he did, the part of the
>      rule that would burn him would be the third part of that
>      FAR:
>
>      The third important limitation is that the pilot must be
>      going on the flight for his
>      or her own purpose. The sole purpose of the flight may not
>      be to provide
>      transportation to the passengers. This has been my
>      interpretation for many
>      years. In recent years, the FAA has been taking a more
>      restrictive view. The FAA
>      says not only must the pilot be going on the flight for his
>      or her own purpose, but
>      the purpose must be "common" with the passengers.
>
>
>      It is quite possible that in Doug's situation even if he
>      received no compensation, his friend did and the flight
>      might be considered charter nonetheless.  (see third and
>      fourth citation below).
>
>      So in general, probably the safest bet is don't take any
>      money from your passengers unless you meet the commonality
>      of purpose criteria, make sure they are not making money on
>      your flight and
>      definitely don't take a check ;-)
>
>      Here are a few  interesting articles on this subject:
>
>      http://home.pcisys.net/~aghorash/SharingExpenses.pdf
>      http://www.aviationlawcorp.com/content/traps.html
>      http://www.ntsb.gov/alj/alj/O_n_O/docs/aviation/4583.PDF
>      http://www.ntsb.gov/alj/alj/O_n_O/docs/aviation/4791.PDF
>
>      Hope this helps or further confuses.
>
>
>      Willie Sanchez, Co-pilot N104MW
>
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