Flight cost sharing with a PPL?

Question

I am getting my private pilots license by the end of the next school year and was wondering about how flight cost sharing works. I know that if I take a friend up we can share the cost of renting the airplane but is there a percentage that I can't?

Answer 1

If you would have taken the flight even without the passenger, you are safe. If the flight is done solely for the passenger's purposes, you are potentially in trouble. The rules are not completely clear and to get a sense of how the FAA enforces them, you need to look at the enforcement history.

The pilot must pay at least his share. The shares are computed based on the cost of the flight (rental, fuel, only dollars that actually come out of the pilot's pocket count), divided by the number of passengers.

If you own the plane, you can only split consumables like fuel and oil. You can't compute some kind of "fair share cost" of maintenance or divide the cost of oil changes and inspections or anything like that.

Answer 2

you cannot pay less than an equal  share .

the reg that mandates this is ...§ 61.113.... Private pilot privileges and limitations.

(c) A private pilot may not pay less than the pro rata share of the operating expenses of a flight with passengers, provided the expenses involve only fuel, oil, airport expenditures, or rental fees

edit:

yes, 50-50 is legal if you have one passenger. it is not mandated the percentage you each pay as long as you(the pilot) do not pay LESS than your EQUAL share.

Answer 3

Be careful on this!  The rules USED to say share, not equal share and a lot of folks STILL think it's okay if you pay $0.01 and your buddy pays the rest.  It's not anymore.  Really read part 61 for yourself.

Answer 4

You have to split the costs equally with your passengers.

You can't fly them somewhere you don't want to go. So if your friend says "I have a job interview ... can you fly me there?" technically you can't. However, you need the hours and experience so that's a good excuse to fly somewhere, so you might as well fly to the city your friend is going to. He can't pay 100% -- you'll have to split the costs.

I have rarely charged anyone to go fly with me. I don't want to do anything to spoil it for them.

Answer 5

As a PPL with one passenger, you have to pay at least 50% of the direct costs of the flight. You cannot charge for things like tiedowns, maintenance, etc... that's all out of your pocket.