Originally Posted by
luke3
Sorry to revive this thread with a somewhat dumb question, but when counting PIC time under 135.243(a)(1) is it >10 seats as certified or as installed? Let's say I'm PIC on a large cabin corporate jet with a full 13 seat executive configuration. The following week it gets reconfigured for Medevac with a stretcher, medical equipment, and 5 seats. Do those hours also count since the plane is certified for 13 pax or is it only when flying with that seating configuration installed?
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...rpretation.pdf
Note specifically:
Accordingly, this memorandum confirms that§ 135.243(a)(1) requires a PIC to hold an airline transport pilot cetiificate for the following passenger-carrying operations conducted in accordance with part 135: (1) operations using a turbojet airplane; (2) operations using an airplane having a passenger-seat configuration, excluding each crewmember seat, of 10 seats or more; and (3) operations using a multiengine airplane in a commuter operation as defined in pati 119 of Chapter 1, ofTitle 14.
The regulation speaks to the configuration of the airplane. An airplane with no passenger seats installed, for example, is not configured for 10 passenger seats. The type certification is not relevant; the number of installed seats is relevant.
CaptDave's link (
1000 hr requirement for 121.436) to the FAA Chief Legal Counsel letter of interpretation on page 1 of this thread (
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...rpretation.pdf) states the answer to your question:
Scenario 2: In the second scenario, you describe a pilot who holds an ATP certificate and a type rating for a Beechcraft 1900. The pilot flies the Beechcraft 1900 for a part 135 operator as PIC with only cargo (no seats) and has over 1,000 hours of flight time in the airplane with the part 135 operator (scheduled and unscheduled operations).
You ask whether the flight time described in the second scenario would satisfy the requirement for 1,000 hours of flight time, allowing the pilot to act as PIC of a Beechcraft 1900 under part 121. You also ask whether flight time accrued in other aircraft type certificated with ten or more passenger seats but that do not have seats installed may be used to satisfy the experience requirement in § 121.436(a)(3).
Response 2: Time spent as PIC of a part 135 all-cargo operation may not be credited towards the 1,000-hour experience requirement in § 121.436(a)(3).
Experience as PIC on flights conducted under § 135.243(a)(l) is the only part 135 experience that may be credited towards the 1,000-hour experience requirement in § 121.436(a)(3). One of the defining characteristics of § 135.243(a)(l) operations, is that these operations are passenger-carrying operations and require an ATP certificate. 2 The operations you have described are all-cargo operations and only require a commercial pilot certificate thus § 135.243(a)(l) would not apply.