Private Air Taxi Service

[Pilot_MKN]

I was thinking about this last night and thought I'd share this to see what people thought.

If I do move up to New Hampshire would anybody be interested in paying for an 'under-the-radar' air taxi? The hoops the FAA throws in your way to go the legitimate route are purposely in-place to prevent this sort of thing, but as long as the pilot and all passengers 'evenly split the cost of the flight', a pilot can accept payment for flying. So as long as you tell the nice FAA man 'sure, we split the cost', it seems like it would be hard to get in trouble for this (and the FAA is so short on manpower that you are never likely to run into them at small airports)

[ChristianAnarchist]

I did this right after I got my license.  I even advertised in a local paper "pilot will fly you for free - share expenses"...

Never had any problem but it was 30 years ago...  I really don't think there will be any issues even today as long as there is no accident (very rare possibility).  If there is an accident of course you will be subject to a lawsuit and possibly (but highly unlikely) FAA sanctions.

I for one would have no problem using such a service.

(something I noticed years after the fact - I soloed on 7-7-77...)

[Pilot_MKN]

Some of my friends at flight school were scared to death of the FAA catching them for accepting money, but I always figured that if you made sure everyone got their stories straight that it would be extremely difficult for the FAA to prove you broke their silly rule.

[ChristianAnarchist]

There are so many pilots out there flying with expired medical certificates, revoked licenses or even pilots (defined as someone who can fly a plane) who have never even had a license.  They have almost no way to enforce all these "regulations" if you are flying your own plane and don't accidentally fly into "their" restricted air space. 

[blackie]

I might be able to use an air taxi service.

How would you feel about making medical marijuana deliveries in Maine?

[voodoo]

Any fear of the FAA is overblown.  It's a simple numbers game (lots of pilots/planes/runways/hangars and very few inspectors), an ignorance game (definitive sources for FARs do NOT include FAA inspectors), and a good 'ol boys game.

The fear is attention from certificated operators.  Fortunately, that's easy to avoid also:

1) Do not, under any circumstances, ever, never, ever hold out.

2) Conduct your business an arm's length away from the airport.  Realize that every time someone you do business with comes in contact with someone else from the airport, you will be a topic of conversation.  You want that conversation to be in conjunction with full or partial ownership or leasing of an aircraft, not "he's my pilot".

Unless you are holding out, you should not have much fear in any case.  The risk is microscopic compared to the financial risk - that's where every headache begins and ends.

[ChristianAnarchist]

Some of my friends at flight school were scared to death of the FAA catching them for accepting money, but I always figured that if you made sure everyone got their stories straight that it would be extremely difficult for the FAA to prove you broke their silly rule.

In my quest to become current lately, I've noticed something regarding how the pilots I knew 30 years ago and the young pilots of late differ.  The pilots of years gone by were not so terribly concerned with "breaking" the rules as with "getting caught".  There was a lot more rebellion in the ranks back then.  I've seen old pilots (mostly deceased now) that I held in high regard do some crazy things back then.  One time I was gassing up a rental plane at Crest Airpark near Seattle and I hear a roar above my head which turned out to be a local in his twin Navion doing a barrel roll about 100 feet over my head.  When I commented to the kid gassing up my plane, he said "Oh, that's (local pilot).  He does that all the time..."

The young instructors that I've been exposed to lately seem so afraid of breaking any rules they can't hardly breathe without notifying flight following.

[Pilot_MKN]

Yea Gene, when I was at the government run flight school they drilled into our heads the notion that the FAA would bring the hammer down hard on us and tried to make it seem like that Mr. FAA Inspector could be at any airport waiting on you to break a rule.

In my personal experience, flying with my grandfather for 20 years or so, we have never, ever seen one of these FAA guys. When you do hear about them, they are at some busy airport, not your Podunk, MS local municipal airport. We even picked up crashed airplanes for insurance companies and never saw these guys in person. Unless something really bad happens, the FAA conducts accident investigations over the phone.

[Bill Brasky]

I'm sending my ex-wife to an ultra-exclusive day-spa, about 300 miles east of Boston.  I'll pay you $5,000 to take her. 

[slayerboy]

I would use this.  I don't have much reason to travel, but when/if I moved to NH I'd rather fly than drive 6 hours back to NY for family events.  I also go to Florida every March for an NHRA event and I'd love to fly down there without taking commercial airlines and dealing with the TSA.

[Bill Brasky]

I would use this.  I don't have much reason to travel, but when/if I moved to NH I'd rather fly than drive 6 hours back to NY for family events.  I also go to Florida every March for an NHRA event and I'd love to fly down there without taking commercial airlines and dealing with the TSA.

Assuming he wants to make a profit, a 3000 mile round trip plus the days on the ground, I think you're gonna be paying substantially more than $209 through Expedia. 

[voodoo]

I would use this.  I don't have much reason to travel, but when/if I moved to NH I'd rather fly than drive 6 hours back to NY for family events.  I also go to Florida every March for an NHRA event and I'd love to fly down there without taking commercial airlines and dealing with the TSA.

Assuming he wants to make a profit, a 3000 mile round trip plus the days on the ground, I think you're gonna be paying substantially more than $209 through Expedia. 

Feel free to include your credit card # and security code when calling.  Folks dead set on turning a large fortune into a small fortune may answer for $209.  I wouldn't.

[slayerboy]

I would use this.  I don't have much reason to travel, but when/if I moved to NH I'd rather fly than drive 6 hours back to NY for family events.  I also go to Florida every March for an NHRA event and I'd love to fly down there without taking commercial airlines and dealing with the TSA.

Assuming he wants to make a profit, a 3000 mile round trip plus the days on the ground, I think you're gonna be paying substantially more than $209 through Expedia. 

I'd pay extra just for not having to deal with the TSA and a direct flight.  I can get one now for march around $350-400 one way, so about $700-800 round trip with taxes and crap.  That might be direct, or it might not.  Usually there's 2 direct flights and a ton of 1 or 2 stop flights. I'd easily pay $1500 for a round trip direct flight without having to deal with the TSA.  Especially after this past March's trip where I was stranded in O'Hare for 15 hours because United fucked shit up and we ended up having to make 2 extra connecting flights.  22 hours to get from Western NY to Orlando,FL -- my uncle drove in 26 hours down there.

Depends on the market.  i haven't exactly looked at private flights, so I have no clue, but twice as much as the commercial airlines seems worth it to me, maybe a little more.

[Pilot_MKN]

Just for perspective, my grandfather's Cessna 172 that I fly burns roughly 7 gallons of fuel per hour, at around $4 per gallon at about 100-105 MPH. The rule of thumb I use is that the Cessna takes half as long as a car trip does. When I was going to school down in the delta, it was 2 hours to drive there and 45 min to fly there.

The longer the trip you want to make, the more the cost goes up, to the point that it will be substantially more than the price of an airline ticket. I think the best bet for this to work would be to market it as a 'get anywhere in New Hampshire' type of service, considering the short distances involved.

[Stoker]

I like the concept, but the economics don't seem to work. My guess is that it would only be useful to people who want to sightsee, or would like to transit from point A to point B without the fear of being stopped by the Gestapo. You might want to consider this possibility as you might be liable for more than just bending the FAA rules if your passengers turn out to have something other than a bag lunch and paperwork in their briefcase....