Why can't private pilots fly for hire?

[Jay Honeck]

In another thread, I marveled at the gymnastics some poor guy was going through to find a ride to Wyoming. The convoluted FAA rules banning private pilots from receiving compensation of any kind for flying are really quite amazing.

Which begs the question: Why? What historic event, or train of events, led the FAA to take away our ability to charge -- or be voluntarily compensated -- for providing a valuable service?

Sent from my Nexus 7

 

[Jim Logajan]

Can we all line up on your beach and pee against the tide?

Peeing against the tide is a fairly apt description of what aircraft homebuilder George Bogardus and the "Oregon Outlaws" did back in the 1940's when they went up against the CAA when the outlaws tried to roll back homebuilt aircraft regulations.

Sometime after 1926 the regulations were written such that for "homebuilt aircraft, they could not be registered." Enlightening story on the history of homebuilts and how written by Ken Scott titled "The Resistance":

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/oregon_outlaws.html

I think history is clear on other similar endeavors: when it comes to laws and regulations, nothing is cut in stone. (OK, some literally is cut in stone like the Code of Hammurabi - but though it is still readable thousands of years later, nobody follows it.)

 

[Jim Logajan]

The convoluted FAA rules banning private pilots from receiving compensation of any kind for flying are really quite amazing.

It is important to note that you made a claim that is false: "banning private pilots from receiving compensation of any kind for flying."

The regulation clearly state that they can be compensated if the flight is connected to business or employment and the flight is "incidental" to said business or employment. If you needed to fly somewhere to get bed sheets for your hotel, your hotel business could compensate you for the expenses incurred for that flight. That business expense also helps reduce taxable income.

However, all the exceptions that the FAA has carved out pretty much undercut the claim that the prohibitions are related to safety. Clearly they are not.

I believe an analogous situation to private pilot compensation regulations is that of jitneys (unlicensed taxis): illegal in most places, yet the rationale for the laws limiting access to entering a taxi business appear to be designed to protect municipal revenue sources and to protect a few select businesses.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Aviation attorneys are quick to point out that the FAA has pretty much gone it's own way insofar as definitions and interpretations of various terms are concerned. They lament the fact that various government agencies that interact with aviation (primarily IRS and FAA) disagree on many fundamental concepts.

I don't know many aviation attorneys, but among the few law cases that I have read, I found the use of the words "incidental" and "common purpose" were defined inconsistently. I do not think it wise to use them in any proposed legislation.

But I think it is nice of DrMack to put the effort in and I'd help out if there was anything he thought he needed. I'm just a working plebe without any political influence.