Airline?????( the retired airline pilot please )?

Question

what will i have to do after i would buy a cessna 172 skyhawk what would i have to get as in ranks ect.. to have passengers that buy a ticket to come on board and fly with me?

Answer 1

To charge money for piloting services, you must have a Commercial Pilot Certificate.

To set yourself up as an air charter or on-demand operator, you must organize under FARs part 135, which is a very costly and complex process.  You would need several hundred thousand dollars in capitalization.

If you have that, and want to go ahead, start by writing a business plan.  For help with business planning, contact the Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov) or the Small Business Development Center at your local community college.

You will also need to contact the nearest Flight Standards District Office to begin the certification process.  The FAA's web site has a list of all the FSDOs.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Gonna need a FAR 135 air carrier certificate. Hope ya gotta lotta money.

Answer 3

As another post has answered, for starters, you'd need to get your Commercial Pilot License.  Beyond that, there are quite a few requirements you would have to meet.

Since you want people to buy tickets on your Skyhawk, you would be considered an 'On Demand Commercial Operator'.  I assume you would advertise your "airline" to the general public, which the FAA considers "holding out to the general public'.  This means you would be operating under 14 CFR 135 (Part 135 of the FARs).

Every '135' Operator must receive an operating certificate from the FAA (similar to an airline operating certificate).  There are numerous requirements to obtaining a 135 certificate.  These involve (but not limited to) manual certification, aircraft certification, crewmember certification, maintenance program approval, etc.

Once all the requirements are met to gain approval for an operating certificate, the FAA will review your application, inspect your operation, and then either issue an operating certificate or deny your request.

The process can be quite lengthy depending on a variety of circumstances.  The FAA does not make it "easy" to obtain operating certificates in order to protect the general public.  They want to make sure that operators hold safety in the highest regard.

For the regulations regarding your proposed operation, look here to get an idea of what is required:

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/tex...