Thanks for your detailed response.
In brief, I had a discussion with a crew and dispatching mechanic about a ferry flight that was to depart this coming week for an airliner that had been returned from lease by its previous operator and was to ferried (part 91 I assume) to the paint shop in preparation for leasing to a new airline in Asia.
I assume the aircraft was in the hands of the leasing company however when the crew raised the issue of what documentation they would expect to find onboard the reply was a blank stare followed by “nothing, the cockpit is empty”, except of course the Airworthiness/Reg/Radio certificates.
The crew involved were puzzled as they had not been given any documentation such as FCOM,s, QRH or manual load sheet so I was left wondering how ferry companies handle this sort of operation as I may become involved in this sort of work in the future.
I subsequently found the FAR’s that reference this (thanks for the links also) and I guess it is reasonably obvious that FCOM/FOM’s must be onboard, as you pointed out including aircraft limitations along with the other items specified.
It made me realize just how much the airline takes care of these issues for a line pilot and how many considerations there are for a ferry crew when conducting these operations outside of the guidance of an airline.
For example, we use the Airbus MEL, which is based on the master MEL but who provides an MEL to a ferry crew when the aircraft is not actually “operated” by an airline with a maintenance program?
Thanks again for any thoughts you may have.