Pilots: Don’t Get Trapped in an Illegal Air Charter Operation
Learn About the Top 3 Persistent Safety Issues
By FAA’s Safe Air Charter Team
Illegal charter operations in the National Airspace System continue to put the flying public in danger and undercut the business of legitimate operators. The FAA, together with our industry partners, has carried out public outreach efforts directed at pilots, owners, passengers, operators, and others to provide emphasis and education about the specific regulations required to keep the airspace safe and legal.
Safe air charter education is aimed at prevention before there is an issue or incident. As pilots, you are often the first line of defense to ensure safety. These are three persistent safety issues:
- For private pilots, it is a misinterpretation of privileges and limitations regarding the application of 14 CFR sections 61.113(b)(1) and (2) regarding compensation for flights in connection with a business or employment.
- For commercial pilots, especially for those newly certificated, it is the failure to correctly identify the operational rules required for the flight, which may require greater authorization and/or certification than simply their privilege of receiving compensation for flying under 14 CFR part 61.
- For all pilots, it is a general lack of understanding of their responsibility to possess full knowledge of the nature of the flights they conduct.
🛩️ Private Pilot Privileges and Limitations Regarding 61.113(b)
When compensation is exchanged for transportation, the flying public expects, and the regulations demand, a higher level of safety. It is generally understood that private pilots may neither act as pilot in command (PIC) of an aircraft for compensation or hire nor act as PIC of an aircraft carrying persons or property for compensation or hire according to 14 CFR section 61.113(a). The section that follows, 61.113(b) is often misunderstood or misapplied. A private pilot must meet both conditions of 61.113(b)(1) and (2) before they can receive compensation in connection with any business or employment.
For example, Shelly works for a company whose business is not related to air transportation. She wants to fly her Cessna 182 to a meeting for her company in Las Vegas and wants to be reimbursed for the cost of using her own aircraft to fly herself to the meeting. Shelly must look at both 61.113(b)(1) and (2) to make sure she is legal. A flight to a meeting would be considered incidental to that business or employment thereby meeting (b)(1). Next, she is only flying herself to the meeting, so no persons or property are on board, therefore (b)(2) is met.
Modifying this scenario, Shelly’s colleague now wants to ride with her to the meeting. Can Shelly take her friend along on the aircraft and still be reimbursed for the flight? No, she cannot because (b)(2) prohibits passengers or property being carried for compensation or hire — her reimbursement from her employer for the flight is compensation. (See legal interpretation Mangiamele 2009.)
✈️ Commercial Pilots Must Adhere to All Operational Flight Rules
Newly certificated commercial pilots often misunderstand their privileges under 61.133 when receiving compensation for flights carrying persons or property. A commercial pilot must meet the qualification requirements of 14 CFR part 61, and the operator, which may be the pilot or a different company, must hold the proper operating certificate for the flight operation conducted. Most operations involving the carriage of persons for compensation require the operator to hold a certificate under part 119 authorizing those flights to be conducted under parts 135 or 121. A pilot for a flight operated under parts 135 or 121 must meet additional qualification requirements like training, testing, and flight experience.
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In addition to ensuring compliance with the applicable pilot privileges and limitations in part 61, prior to conducting any operation, the pilot must also determine what operational rules the flight is conducted under or should be conducted under to prevent a possible illegal charter. The pilot must also verify whether the operator has the appropriate operational certification (part 119), and whether the pilot has the proper qualifications. Unless a valid exception from operational certification rules applies in accordance with section 119.1(e), operators (could be the pilot under certain circumstances) cannot engage in common carriage, e.g., holding out, unless they are operating in accordance with an air carrier certificate or commercial operating certificate.
👨✈️ Pilot Responsibility to Inquire into the Nature of a Flight
Once FAA enforcement action has been initiated, a common reaction from pilots is that they only went off the information on a flight given to them by their employer or representative and didn’t ask questions or inquire as to the circumstances of the flight. As the pilot, you are accountable for your flight, even if it turns out to be unauthorized air transportation based on information relayed to you.
While it certainly can be awkward or consequential when inquiring from an employer, boss, supervisor, or chief pilot as to the circumstances surrounding any flight, consider that it is your pilot certificate being used to operate that flight, not your employer’s. It is NTSB precedent that pilots have a duty to inquire and understand the nature of their flight.
In NTSB Order EA-3549 (Hagerty) in April 1992, the Board stated: “A certificate holder is fairly expected to have a working knowledge of the regulations applicable to any operation he undertakes, and it is incumbent upon the pilot in command to ensure that any flight he conducts meets applicable regulations.”
In NTSB Order EA-4306 (Croy and Rich), in December 1994, the board stated: “As we said in Hagerty, pilots may not avoid liability simply by not asking any questions. They have a reasonable duty to inquire into the status of the flight and the passengers.”
If you have questions regarding any of these topics, please review the regulations under Title 14 in the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), advisory circulars, and legal interpretations referenced above. You may also contact your local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) for assistance or seek the advice of a qualified aviation attorney.
Learn More
- See FAA Advisory Circular 61–142, Paragraph 10, for more information about holding out.
- See FAA Advisory Circular 120–12A for more information about private carriage versus common carriage of persons or property.
- Explore how the FAA is working to eliminate the risk of illegal air charter at faa.gov/charter.
Online Training
The FAA and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) discuss protecting your pilot certificate in the WINGS-credit course ALC-1093, Cost Sharing, Time Building, and Posting on Social Media.
Take the course at bit.ly/alc-1093 and get WINGS pilot proficiency credit.
