Warbird Information Exchange

Do pilots flying only fly-by's (strafing runs, bomb runs) need to hold a Commercial rating in order to fly in a show.

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"Keep 'em Flying!"

Helo Mike,

I believe that if they accept money, fuel, rental car, motel, food, or any other form of compensation, technically, the answer would be yes.

I they accept none of the above, the answer would be no.

Glenn

That's a FAA grey area, even logging the time is considered compensation.
It depends on the local fisdo.

Lynn

HOW can logging time be compensation if the pilot is paying the operating costs?? Guess every student trying to get his PPL is in violation of 14 CFR, eh?

"Cost sharing" is legal for private ops. A car or fuel being provided by a show does not go anywhere near covering the cost of running an aircraft. Same goes for flying your mates - you can split the expenses but not "charge" them if you get the difference. Also a "donation" towards a flight is not a commercial activity.

This is one of those questions if you ask 10 different Feds you get ten diferent answers. There might be only one rule but each FSDO has a different way of interpreting it. What you do with the aircraft aerobatics, strafing run, etc. matters less than the agreement you have with the show. A L-Bird or a fighter should be treated the same. Unfortunatley the new kinder gentler FAA this summer hasbeen a lot more unforgiving on this rule

Randy, I see you point, but in a airshow if you own the A/C and and seek no comp, yes. If you do seek comp, its not the same as student getting his pvt ticket. You can't seek comp if you are not a commercial driver. As Ober & I have seen, its how the local fisdo treats it.

Lynn

Yes, "cost sharing" is quite legal, but who would you be sharing the cost with if you are the only one in the airplane?



Glenn

IMHO,
You should be able to get fuel, but not an appearance fee if you are not commercial. At least one way fuel, that would be less than 50% of the sortie cost. My hourly may be about $250/ hour , mybe 75$ of that is fuel, so I am still eating the lion's share of the operating cost. If they could change this rule slightly, there may be more aircraft willing to show up at shows.

While the rules on this are not clearly black and white my personal experience at airshows has been that accepting any fuel, car, hotel, cash or hot dog is considered by most Feds as compensation. With that in mind you not only need a Commercial license, you also need a valid 2nd class medical. I've seen a guy get busted over this, as you cannot execute the priviledges of your Commercial license with only a 3rd class medical.

As a strange side note I was told by Art Vance that the feds do not consider Reno paychecks as "compensation", but rather "winnings", and as such you do not need to have a Commercial and 2nd class medical. It is however a requirement of the Unlimited division.