Page 16 - Volume 13 Number 11

Exploring the Limits of
Flying Under Part 91
W hen you were a kid, or maybe even later in life, someone you trusted probably cau- tioned you about opportunities that look too good to be true; sometimes they are. That kind of advice usu- ally focused on promised riches in exchange for relatively innocent commitments of time or resources. As pilots and aircraft owners, we’re way too smart to fall for promises
like that; or are we?
Everyone that owns an airplane wishes it was less expensive to maintain. That’s one reason some owners lease their airplanes to a
by Rob Mark
local flight school, flying club or charter company, where they’re guaranteed a flat hourly cash flow that, when costs are extracted, might help eke out a small profit.
And just in time to shine a fresh light on this kind of venture, Uber- like aircraft ridesharing, flight sharing and air taxi companies like Flytenow, AirPooler, Blackbird, SkyRyde and FlyOtto have appeared, trying to demonstrate the flexibility of general aviation aircraft to passengers in need of transportation between cities unserved by air service of any kind.
In 2013, Flytenow and AirPooler were created to connect private aircraft owners with people in need of a ride to a destination that a random pilot might be headed toward, with the idea that they’d share the cost as allowed under Part 91. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) didn’t look too kindly on these ventures and decided they were not really ride-sharing, but actually just a commercial operation wrapped up in a fancy new website, despite these two companies claiming they had no profit motive. By early 2017, the legality of flight and ridesharing nearly made it to the Supreme Court of the United States, but not quite. Lower courts ruled with the FAA against the concept, and both companies evaporated into history. Ridesharing proponents saw the ruling as a slap down of the emerging Uberization of light airplane flying, while critics called it a first step by regulators to protect the flying public from unqualified commercial carriers.
More recently, FlyOtto and SkyRyde have appeared, attempting to direct short-haul passengers to aircraft they represent for direct connections; although SkyRyde isn’t quite ready to open its doors just yet. The difference between 2013 and now is that in the case of FlyOtto (flyotto.com) the company acts as a middleman between potential passengers and legitimate charter operators operating under Part 135 commercial carrier rules called “commuter and on-demand operations” by the FAA. The goal is to simply direct more business to companies that already operate general aviation airplanes. FlyOtto doesn’t hold itself out as a Part 135 operator which it is not. It
14 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2019