Flying for a family member on business
Asked by: Gordon Bower 3541 views FAA Regulations, Private Pilot
As a private pilot, I am aware that I may, in general, fly on personal business, but if I carry a passenger, I can't accept more than half of expenses from him.
My father is a professional photographer. We live in the same city, and have a number of common interests (a lot of the places I would fly over for my own interest on a pleasure flight are places he would enjoy flying over to photograph.) This raises several interesting questions about the limits of what a private pilot is allowed to do.
Question #1: is my legal status different if I am just flying him around for him to take pictures of whatever looks interesting to him for his own files, vs. flying him around because a client has hired him to take a particular set of aerial photographs?
Question #2: he wishes he (or his clients) could pay for all of the aircraft rental vs. half. Obviously he cannot do so directly. A) is he allowed to make me an employee of his photography business and pay me an hourly rate for assisting him, out of which I would pay my half of the plane? B) As my father, he is allowed by the IRS to give me up to $10,000 a year as a gift. Is the FAA going to be mad if he gives me a gift this December that happens to be comparable in size to how much we spent flying together?
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