Page 19 - Volume 13 Number 11

pilot. The company says, “the flight is initiated by the passenger” and “the passenger maintains operational control.” The question is whether or not a passenger, uneducated about the ways of charter flying, understands the relationship Blackbird is creating. This gray area frightens regular charter companies.
Although Blackbird has never had a mishap, consider what might happen after an accident. Blackbird tells aircraft owners not to fret because the airplane is, after all, insured by the policy belonging to the aircraft owner/operator. If you’re an individual aircraft owner who operates an airplane for pleasure or for your own business, it’s worth asking your broker how they’d feel about someone making money somewhere using your machine the way it’s currently insured, since Blackbird sounds an awful lot like a commercial operation to most critics.
A look at Blackbird’s web presence reminds everyone that, “every pilot is commercially certified,” and even “surpasses Blackbird’s own standards. Before joining the BlackBird community, every pilot must meet BlackBird’s safety requirements.” Those include a commercial pilot certificate, at least 500 flight hours, a background check, a valid first- or second-class medical certificate, an instrument rating and aircraft currency.” If the service is flown by a pilot, even a commercially rated one under Part 91, one question would be how much training that pilot has had recently. To be eligible to fly under Part 135, pilots must have recently completed a competency checkride with an FAA designated examiner. The aircraft must also be closely examined and found to meet commercial standards. On the aircraft side, Blackbird standards require aircraft to come with an airworthiness certificate, an FAA registration, an annual inspection, an ELT, seat belts and required emergency equipment. What airplane wouldn’t meet those requirements?
Ryan Waguespack looked closer at some of the questions that have arisen surrounding Blackbird. Waguespack is the vice president of aircraft management, air charter services & MROs at the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) in Washington. He explained that the legitimate charter industry “is historically a safe industry. We assume the pilot is properly trained and that the aircraft is well maintained.” He worries that the unrefined flying public might see nothing more than a cheap $99 price tag for a flight from say San Francisco to Lake Tahoe. “It costs more than that just to operate the airplane.” He doubts the “majority of the public truly understands the risks.” Nor might some aircraft owners. In the case of Blackbird, he points out that the company is simply “deflecting the risk.” The need for the passenger to be responsible to check both the pilot and the aircraft’s qualifications for the flight is where Waguespack says the public is being misled. He warned aircraft owners that “as a Part 91 operator, your estate could be penetrated. Who do you think is going to be
number one on the lawsuit if there’s an accident?” He said the insurance industry is only now beginning to look at companies like Blackbird. “It’s turning slowly, but \[looking closer\] it’s going to happen.”
In recent years a number of
industry investigations have been
initiated from organizations like
NATA and the National Business
Aviation Association (NBAA) into air charter companies that hold themselves out to the public as legitimate when they’re not. The crash of a Falcon 50 at Greenville, South Carolina, last year is a recent case in point. Neither the captain nor the first officer were actually certified to fly charter in the jet, but of course the passengers didn’t know that. The Falcon slid off the end of the runway at Greenville on landing, killing the two pilots and seriously injuring the two passengers in the cabin. Charter operations are often conducted in aircraft much smaller than a business jet. The part of Blackbird trying to convince owners to offer the company their airplane for lease can be found at aircrafty.io.
Despite the questions, it’s ultimately the FAA’s duty to decide whether Blackbird is following all the rules, but despite repeated requests to the agency for an
JB Adkins, SkyRyde founder
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NOVEMBER 2019
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 17