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5 Answers

Can I drop off a passenger at another airport as a private pilot?

Asked by: 3058 views Private Pilot

Was just wondering, for example. If my mom and her friend want to go somewhere and I am a private pilot, can I offer to fly them there. Could I take off from my home airport with them and return without them? I would be paying for all operating costs and such. Thanks!

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5 Answers



  1. newbie_pilot on Apr 04, 2019

    Hi FreshIce,

    So long as you are not receiving payment for the flight, you can drop your passengers off somewhere else.
    Your passengers can pay their reasonable costs of the flight too. If the cost was split three ways with you also paying for your share, this would too be acceptable.

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  2. KDS on Apr 05, 2019

    Certainly. No problem.

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  3. KDS on Apr 05, 2019

    I’m going to ask Mark Koebler to jump in here.

    Mark, I seem to remember there was a legal interpretation that said something along the line that if a pilot was only taking the flight for the benefit or at the direction of the passengers, that did not fall under the cost sharing provisions. In other words, that the pilot would have been going there for their own reason, with or without the passengers.

    Would you please address that issue? Thanks.

    Also, a couple notes. First, how this site works boggles my imagination at times. There was no answer when I replied yesterday, but when I look today, not only is there an answer before mine, but mine is date stamped a day later. If anyone has a clue how that happens, I’d love to hear it. The other point I wanted to mention is that I was probably remiss in not adding the big caveat that you can do it assuming you are otherwise legal to make the flight with a passenger (BFR, medical, 90 day currency, night if applicable, etc.)

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  4. Mark Kolber on Apr 06, 2019

    KDS, yes, that’s correct. If the pilot does not have an independent reason for the destination, it does not meet the requirements for cost sharing. That is actually a liberalization of a long-standing requirement that shared cost requires a shared *purpose* for the flight. The rule us discussed in part if the 2011 Haberkorn letter, https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/practice_areas/regulations/interpretations/data/interps/2011/haberkorn%20-%20(2011)%20legal%20interpretation.pdf

    But FreshIce’s question isn’t about sharing cost. The pilot is paying for the flight.

    So, newbie’s first paragraph is correct, but I don’t think his second paragraph is. Dropping someone off along the way seems like a pretty insignificant distinction to make a difference. It might get by, but those are the types of tiny distinctions the FAA makes in this area, where it is looking for things which either do or do not “quack like a duck” of transportation for hire. For example, as Haberkorn says, it can depend on who is paying. For example, on a joint business trip, pilot and passengers can share expenses, but the pilot cannot receive the payment from the employer. There are others.

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  5. KDS on Apr 06, 2019

    Thanks Mark.

    It’s good to have an understanding of such things lest one innocently get into a bad situation.

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