Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

4 Answers

Commercial pilot privileges

Asked by: 4441 views Commercial Pilot, FAA Regulations

other than being employed and fly for a company, are there other opportunities the commercial pilot have to make money out of this expensive license? a detailed answer with references will be appreciated.  

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

4 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Aug 17, 2014

    Unless you have the monetary resources to buy your own aircraft, there would be little chance for you to make money other than being employed by a company.

    There are companies that provide flight instruction, photo flights, sightseeing rides, pipeline/powerline patrol and other services. They will have minimum pilot qualifications that you would need to meet.

    -2 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 2 Votes



  2. John D Collins on Aug 17, 2014

    You can also fly for another private party or get paid while you are flying yourself and employees on business trips. As a private pilot, you can only share expenses. I am leaving out most of the details for when and under what circumstances you can do this.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Mark Kolber on Aug 17, 2014

    FAR Part 119 deals generally with the requirement for operating certificates (very different from pilot certificates) for various activities. FAR 119.1(e) describes the various activities a commercial pilot may do for compensation without an operating certificate. Note that some of them are subject to other requirements.

    That’s your basic guide.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  4. Sam Dawson on Aug 22, 2014

    Parachute operations.
    There are some opportunities out there, but you will never hear them advertised as they are normally word of mouth. Occasionally I will have someone contact inquiring if I have any CSEL pilots I have recently trained. I got one a gig flying a Mooney (eventually moved to bigger equipment with the same family); another a 206; just had an acquaintance contact me looking for someone to fly a PA-46. This is where hanging out at airports and getting a good reputation helps.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.