Question on 91 Ops
 

I'd love to hear what you guys think.

According to the rules (as I understand them), a Part 91 owned and operated corporate aircraft can be used by any "sister" companies as well without a lease, and without being Part 135.

My question is this:

Does the primary holding company "bill" the sister companies for time used including flight crew, etc., or are they only allowed to bill DOC's?

I was asked for input, read the regs, and I wanted a second opinion. Your help is appreciated!

Talk to an aviation lawyer.

But I think you will find that as long as all companies are under one umbrella holding company there are ways to transfer expenses...ie holding company reimburses airplane company, and then holding company charges sister company. I'm not certain about sister company billing airplane company directly.

This all assumes that all travel is incidental to holding company's business, and that the travel itself is not THE business. Standard common carriage vs. private carriage rules apply.

Personally, (operating in such a circumstance), I leave it up to the corporate lawyers to work out. As far as I'm concerned, I'm carrying employees and customers/visitors of the company of official business of the company... Everything else is above my pay grade.

The only thing that I know we are asked to provide is information about our operating costs (hourly).

If an owner is asking for your opinion about such an operation, I would highly recommend that you take Rick's advice and find a lawyer that is well versed in both aviation regulations as well as tax law. There can be some complicated issues from a tax standpoint as well, particularly if you are carrying employees for non-business purposes.

The problem is that it's very difficult for the FAA to go after the non-certificated people who run such an operation. I think they have to pursue what is essentially a civil lawsuit.

It's much easier to yank the pilot's tickets, and the historical precedent is that they will do just that, and then call it a day.

I love helping lawyers buy their vacation home as much as the next guy.

But when I'm feeling grumpy, and need to answer a question like this, I go talk to my FSDO...

I went to the local FSDO, got the normal government/FAA neurotics, and came out with no real answer....

Lawyer it is...

Thank you gentlemen...

The answer is yes. The aircraft in this senario does not have to be part 135 to bill. Pilots (usually salary but, if its per diem you also add that in), catering, landing fees, etc will be figured into the Direct Operating Costs for the flight. What you can bill however is just the DOC and DOUBLE the Fuel and Oil consusmed during the flight(s).