Originally Posted by
rickair7777
You cannot do any flying for hire or compensation without having a commercial pilots license (need to be age 18) and meeting certain other requirements depending on the type of flying.
The word "compensation" is critical here, since the FAA can and will consider flight time itself to be a form of compensation for low-time pilots who are building time and you can be violated for doing flying where it even appears that you were flying for free in exchange for flight time.
In addition, whether you advertise in writing or by word of mouth, simply advertising yourself as being willing to provide pilot services (with or without an airplane) for any compensation or hire is called "holding out," and is also a big problem for the private pilot.
I was in the same boat, seeking ways to get flying experience as a 15, 16, and 17 year old in high school. I thought I'd come up with a surefire way to get others to cover the cost of the airplane. I knew I'd have to pay my share of the costs, so I put out flyers at high school advertising scenic rides and a unique experience for proms and dates. Take your date to see the lights. I broke down the costs, making sure that I'd accounted for my share of the expenses. It seemed reasonable to me. Imagine my surprise when I was hauled into the office of the manager of the local flying club (where I worked, scrubbing airplanes, pumping fuel, turning wrenches, etc), and chewed out from one end of the office to the other.
Where he caught wind of those flyers I don't know, but he knew all about them, and had a copy in hand. I was holding out, he said, advertising pilot services, which I couldn't do even if I split the costs. I then learned that if I were to take passengers or cargo and split costs, it had to be a flight I'd have already made without the other people. Catering to them, making a special flight for them to take advantage of their money or compensation, still ran afoul of the rules.
I washed airplanes and detailed them in exchange for flight time. I worked for flight instructors, even tending their mother's gardens in some cases, to help offset instruction costs. I worked two jobs, and focused all my money on flying. I bicycled, instead of drove.
I was a civil air patrol cadet. I was later a senior member, and flew every chance I could. I begged and caught rides, split time with others. I had a friend that scrimped and saved and bought an inexpensive homebuilt (experimental) airplane. He flew it and wore it out, had it recovered and flew it some more, then sold it for more than he paid to buy it.
The hardest part of flying is paying for it, to be sure.
Don't ever offer to fly for free. It lowers the bar for everyone, and you'll find yourself with a bad reputation.