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2 Answers

Common carraige vs. private carraige

Asked by: 12463 views , , ,
Commercial Pilot, FAA Regulations, General Aviation

I understand that common carraige requires you to 'hold out' by advertising or expressing a willingness to carry any customers, and private is without 'holding out' but you can still have contracts to fly people. There seems to be a lot of grey area. I've read the regs multiple times but it's just not clicking. Can someone give me a simplified version please.

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2 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Jun 06, 2014

    Common carriage: I will fly anybody, anywhere at any time.

    Private carriage: I will fly you and your passengers (with whom I have a contract), but no one else, anywhere at any time.

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  2. Mark Kolber on Jun 07, 2014

    Kris’ answer is absolutely correct.

    But there is a warning if trying to apply the concepts in any practical setting. Although there is some suggestion to the contrary, even in FAA materials, as a general rule, the fact that carriage is considered “private” does not mean you can do it without an operating certificate. And, “holding out” is such a flexible concept that it can be found anywhere. After all, how did that one organization with which you have a transportation contract come about without you in some way making it known to the public or, as the FAA Chief Counsel has said, “that segment of the public” you are tying to attract as customers, that you were even available?

    Fortunately, the area is complex enough that all the knowledge test questions are simple and DPEs generally don’t understand the concepts well enough to get into the details. So a couple of rote definitions is usually all you need to know.

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