Like ridesharing / carpooling, just with airplanes. They are clearly not as successful as the car variant, but when flight destinations / times match they might offer a little adventure on the route (and one could avoid some of the traffic jams around the Bay Area).
Getting into a car which may or may not be well-maintained[1] with a driver whose competence I know nothing about is disturbing enough. Getting into a plane (where the failure mode on shoddy maintenance is falling out of the sky) with an unknown pilot seems like a very courageous move.
In the Yes, Prime Minister sense.
[1] I once had a boss that picked up $200 cars. He asked me to move it out of the company car park for him once, warning that the brakes didn't work and I'd need to use the handbrake to stop.
except they hand out driver's licenses like candy, but pilot's licenses take quite a bit of training. also, the vehicle inspections are much more stringent.
There are a lot of legal land mines with operations like this.
The FAA separates flight operations along a couple of subtle lines that make the difference between a commercial and private operation. As soon as a private pilot says to the general public "I am flying from here to there on this day and it will cost this much to come." you are now "holding out" as the FAA puts it. This requires you to be a commercial pilot flying under part 135 of the FARs as opposed to the more relaxed part 91 (general aviation).
> This requires you to be a commercial pilot flying under part 135 of the FARs as opposed to the more relaxed part 91 (general aviation).
This is something I plan to do if/when I burn out on programming. Though I guess there is always the saying: "how do you become a millionaire?" "become a billionaire and start an airline."
Is that true even if the passengers don't pay more than their fair share of the operating costs?
One instance I can think of are the EAA "young eagle" flights where kids can come to the airport and get a flight with a pilot. Those are definitely advertised, but since they aren't done for profit, my impression was that they are clearly part 91. (I don't know if those flights are completely free, though.)
EDIT: nm, saw the post above about "common purpose" rule.
the software i am developing is called pilotride.com
see the web site. its one big difference is the software is designed for flying clubs and FBO's that rent aircraft. this is NOT a public free for all where someone posts a flight and the world sees it. this software secures all rides and members data to the club or FBO.
Like ridesharing / carpooling, just with airplanes. They are clearly not as successful as the car variant, but when flight destinations / times match they might offer a little adventure on the route (and one could avoid some of the traffic jams around the Bay Area).