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3 Answers

Commercial pilot privileges – operating certificates

Asked by: 969 views Commercial Pilot, FAA Regulations

A common scenario purportedly encountered on commercial checkrides goes as follows:

Q: "Your friend asks you to fly them from A to B. They will pay you for the flight. You rent the plane. Can this flight be conducted under Part 91?"

A: "No, because you are holding out and therefore the flight falls under common carriage. An operating certificate is required."

Q: "What if your friend owns the plane, and wants to hire you to fly from A to B. Can you fly without an operating certificate?"

The expected answer here, I'm told, is: "Yes."

This doesn't make sense to me for the following reasons:

  1. If you are holding out in the first scenario, I don't see how that changes at all in the second. Your willingness to serve the general public isn't dependent on who owns the plane.
  2. In any case, does this not effectively render every commercial operation some form of holding out? The logic seems to be "if you accept your friend's request, you are indicating that you are willing to serve the general public, which your friend is a part of". With this kind of logic, it doesn't seem possible to me to *not* hold out. After all, everyone you could possibly fly for hire is going to have to ask you to do it.
  3. Even if we were to accept that the second scenario does not constitute holding out, we would still require an operating certificate.

FAR 119.23(b) states:

Each person who conducts noncommon carriage (except as provided in § 91.501(b) of this chapter) or private carriage operations for compensation or hire with airplanes having a passenger-seat configuration of less than 20 seats, excluding each crewmember seat, and a payload capacity of less than 6,000 pounds shall—

(1) Comply with the certification and operations specifications requirements in subpart C of this part;

(2) Conduct those operations in accordance with the requirements of part 135 of this chapter, except for those requirements applicable only to commuter operations; and

(3) Be issued operations specifications in accordance with those requirements.

The bottom line would appear to be this: when flying for compensation or hire, you need an operating certificate, regardless of whether or not you are holding out, unless you fall under Part 91 Subpart K or the Part 119 exemptions.

However, the above scenario is still frequently tossed around.

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3 Answers



  1. EAD on Sep 07, 2023

    I’m sure someone else will provide a better, more complete answer but here’s what I remember about it:

    In scenario 1, you are providing the plane AND the pilot are are therefore indistinguishable from a charter operation. You have complete operational control of the plane. Your friend would not be able to kick you off the plane because you were the one that rented it.

    In scenario 2, you are only providing your pilot skills and your friend provides the plane. You do NOT have operational control of the plane. They can tell you to get off the plane because, well, it’s their plane.

    Now if they friend in scenario 2 brought along someone else and received something of value for the transportation of that person (even “good will” towards a business can be considered compensation), then that WOULD require an operating certificate even though YOU do not have operational control of the aircraft

    Clear as mud?

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  2. Mark Kolber on Sep 07, 2023

    #1 is technically incorrect. The answer is correct but it’s not about holding out. Airplane + pilot + compensation is a combination that always requires an operating certificate unless there are applicable exceptions. There is a list of them in 119.3 although there are other regs too, including cost sharing under 61.113.

    If you want an example, Google *FAA flight department company.” That is a situation in which a corporation creates a wholly owned subsidiary that does nothing but provide transportation for the parent company. About as not holding out as one can imagine, but a private carriage 135 certificate is required,

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  3. Mark Kolber on Sep 08, 2023

    …and the answer to question 2 is correct. Yes you can. Again, it’s not about holding out. It’s about who is providing the aircraft/crew combination. In FAA terms, who has operational control of the flight.

    The FAA sometimes talks about it as “single source” rule. If both aircraft and pilot are being provided as a package to transport someone or their property for compensation, an operating certificate is required, absent an exception, That’s the first question. You, the pilot, are providing both pilot and airplane to transport the friend.

    In the second, the person or property being transported is the one providing the airplane. That passenger can choose to hire you or anyone else they want to. There’s no package from the same source.

    Interesting timing. I’m doing a webinar in this in less than two weeks,

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