Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
The issue of pro-rata expense belongs to the private pilot. The original poster is a commercially certificated pilot and regardless of work laws or authorizations in the United States, is not prevented from being compensated as a commercial pilot.
The FAA has long held in legal interpretation that the logging of flight time represents compensation, not the flight time itself. In this case, it's irrelevant.
I was trying to make the point that working for free is still working and would be a violation of his student visa. He can go rent a plane or even borrow a plane for a recreational flight while paying his share of the operational expenses and exercise private pilot privileges. Once he exercises commercial pilot privileges, then the pilot would need an appropriate corresponding visa.