Regulatory question...
 

I was wondering if anyone out there can help me out with this question about a type of operation my flight school is thinking about doing.

I work for this flight school who has a deal in the works with an aircraft parts company. The deal is that this parts company will rent our twin-engine aircraft and we will have our flight instructors fly the aircraft in order to transport their parts from one place to another. The instructors will not be paid for this at all, they're just doing it for the flight time. The only money being exchanged is from the parts company renting out our aircraft to transport their goods (free pilot included).

So the question is...does anyone see any regulatory problems with this? Is this kind of operation legit for a regular part 91 operation? Is there a place in the regs that covers this?

Thanks!

Sounds a lot like a 135 situation to me. Then the pilots have to have 135 hours and the school will have to have a 135 certificate, among other things.

A flight school airplane flying parts around is an illegal 135. Stay away from it, you put your tickets at risk if you do this kind of flying.

thanks...i was thinking the same exact thing...and was not going to do this myself (because its too shady)...but i told someone i'd ask others so he'd have an easier time believing me I guess...thanks again

What if the parts company "owned" the airplane, and the pilots were "contracted" to the parts company? There would then need to be some sort of lease agreement for the flight school to use the airplane in instruction?

I don't know why I used quotes around two words!

If the parts company were to purchase the aircraft and could show that they owned the plane (IE they were the registered owners in the FAA's mind and for tax purposes, etc), then the parts company could fly their parts around utilizing their own or contract pilots as they saw fit ($ paying their pilots however much the market will bear). This would be a part 91 corporate operation. However they would have to own and insure the plane.

In turn the parts company could lease unused flight time to the flight school in order to better utilize the aircraft and lower the operating costs. During this period, the plane could be insured separately under the flight schools insurance (but only for flight training/rentals).