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OK... got a few questions here:
2) Let's say I own a plane and am acting alone. Can I transport paying passengers in my airplane if it's private carriage and 119.1 doesn't cover it?
[/ QUOTE ]Yes. Absolutely.
If it's private carriage and
if119.1 doesn't cover it, you can. Of course, that's the catch. Almost anything you can think of doing in this context would be considered public carriage. The question often comes down to the elisuve "holding out" concept.
"Holding out" doesn't have an FAR definition. Doesn't need one. It's one of the tradiitonal tests for the difference between "private carriage" and "common carriage" and goes back to well before the Wright Brothers' flight. It's use for FAA enforcement purposes is like the "only incidental to a business" test, applied and defined by FAA opinion and case law.
All it means is that you are letting the public that you are available for transportation. "The public" includes any segment of the public that you are trying to attract. And it doesn't have to be many. For example, if you are one pilot with a 172, how much business can you possibly do? You don't have to advertise either - word of mouth that people "know" you are available is enough.
In addition to reading though a couple thousand pages of FAA legal opinion and case law, probably the best bet is to look at AC 120-12A PRIVATE CARRIAGE VERSUS COMMON CARRIAGE OF PERSONS OR PROPERTY. It's available online at
http://av-info.faa.gov/dst/120-129.htm
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mcooper added:
Correct me if I'm wrong (and I know someone will if I am ), but don't the regs state that someone can compensate you up to half of the cost of the flight? In other words you can "share" the cost?
[/ QUOTE ]Not quite. There's also a "common purpose" requirement that's not stated in the regulation, but has been applied for years. Essentially, it means, that in order to share costs with your passengers, the pilot must have a reason for going to the destination (other than having fun flying there)