4 ms·
I can't find the article right now, but this idea isn't new and the answer (according to the FAA) is no. There are several types of pilots license but they all
by IIAOPSW 11y ago
I can't find the article right now, but this idea isn't new and the answer (according to the FAA) is no. There are several types of pilots license but they all fall into the category of commercial or private. Private pilots can bring passengers in their planes much like private drivers can bring people in their cars. BUT private pilots cannot explicitly sell their service. Passengers on a private plane cannot be the sole reason a flight is happening in the first place. If you are a pilot and you break this law, you risk loosing your license (and it is a much higher investment of time and money than a driver license).
For a while there were legally grey areas involving "fly share" websites. A recent-ish FAA ruling determined that this is not legally grey, it is not allowed. Period. Dot. Until that issue is resolved, Air-Uber is a head-in-the-clouds dream.
IMO the FAA is right to enforce a certain level of safety and competence in the skies. Most pilots agree with them. This is not like taxi medallions. The regulatory body actually does something useful rather than just protecting rent seekers. At the same time, I think there is a demand for fly-sharing. Perhaps the FAA could create a license in-between commercial and private that allows you to shuttle up to 4 people in a Cessna or similar aircraft.
- prostoalex 11y agoThe article addressed only commercial air travel, so more of on-demand short-distance aspect of Uber than share-my-personal-vehicle-in-a-commercial-fashion aspect of it. After a series of mergers and acquisitions US air space is close to oligopoly.
- rory096 11y agoAirpooler and Flytenow were the startups in the space. (Had the idea myself a few years back.) The FAA ruling was pretty unambiguous: http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/15/faa-bans-planesharing-startups/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/15/faa-bans-planesharing-start...
- ksherlock 11y agoFlytenow seems to be suing the FAA to get that overturned. I can't imagine that will get them anywhere though.
- delbel 11y agoThe rules are to strict. If your friend is a pilot and you guys decide to go out on a flight, you can't in any way pitch in for gas money because it could be interpreted as commercial exchange. In my opinion the FAA is overreaching. I live in a rural area with an airport and would love to be able to fly to my home town, Portland, on a regular basis for business and pleasure. Right now to fly to Portland I'd have to drive 120 miles to Medford, OR , then fly down to San Francisco, then fly to Seattle and connect a fight to Portland! And back again. It'd be cheaper and faster to take Greyhound.
- IIAOPSW 11y ago>The rules are to strict. If your friend is a pilot and you guys decide to go out on a flight, you can't in any way pitch in for gas money because it could be interpreted as commercial exchange. That isn't true and that is not at all what I said. You can be compensated legally. You just can't be over compensated. In other words, you are not allowed to make a profit on a private license.
- ac29 11y ago>Right now to fly to Portland I'd have to drive 120 miles to Medford, OR , then fly down to San Francisco, then fly to Seattle and connect a fight to Portland! And back again. Or, you could fly from Medford to Portland? My first search shows Alaska Airlines flies multiple daily flights between MFR and PDX.
- delbel 11y agoThanks, that must be a new schedule I'll check it out.
- nightski 11y agoMeh if you have a private pilot's license it isn't that difficult to get a commercial license. An ATP license on the other hand...