Come Fly with Me... (But, Let Me Check the Rules before You Pay Me)

You made it! You finally earned your private pilot certificate and now you’re ready to really start flying. As Susan Parson discusses in Practice Makes Proficient (page 7), you recognize the need to practice to keep your skills sharp, but you also know that this flying stuff can get pretty expensive. Like most new pilots, you begin to wonder if there’s any way to get some help whittling down the cost of staying sharp—and grabbing that $100 hamburger. Perhaps there is, but you need to be careful.

From your training, you remember that a private, sport, or recreational pilot generally can’t act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers or property for compensation or hire. Nor can he or she generally receive compensation for just piloting an aircraft. However, you also seem to remember your flight instructor saying that there are some exceptions to that general rule, but that you should be very cautious if you ever accept anything from anyone for piloting an aircraft.

Wondering what those exceptions are, you take out your well-worn copy of the regulations and quickly notice in part 61 that a sport, recreational, or private pilot may receive some compensation from passengers for a flight. But the pilot must cover at least his or her pro rata share of the operating expenses of a flight with passengers—and those operating expenses can only involve fuel, oil, airport expenditures, or rental fees.