Is This Legal?

[gsrcrsx68]

But my friends can rent a Part 91 Duchess from the FBO and pay the entire cost of the aircraft and pay me to fly it too. Go figure!!!

I don't think so. These rules are tricky and suck.

 

[Espalda Mojado]

My basic question is, is it legal for a private pilot to go fly a plane like a Cessna 172 and take pictures out the window for a fee that he would charge a client? i.e. "aerial photography"? Or does that require a Comm. license?

Now, if it is not legal, are there creative ways of getting around it? Not to be skirting the law, but who would know what we're doing up there in the plane? And who's to say that I'm not simply taking photographs for my own pleasure? I suppose that if I actually did take flying lessons to get my PPL I would meet other students who would like to be able to log some time, so what if I took one of them up and gave them the plane during the time I took the photograph?

Bruce

What a great idea! When PacoPollo and I start our online nework of professional pilots ferrying GA aircraft for fun, at little or no cost to the customer, we can combine with aerial photography! We can have our ferry pilots take pictures, and then post them on our future website, www.mexicanfly.com, and charge for prints.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Ok, let me pose another scenario. Lets say I have someone who wants me to shoot some photos. I'm not a pilot, but I can find some local GA pilots. I go to an FBO and rent a plane. I say to a local pilot, you want to get some more hours for your logbook, tell you what. I'll pay for the plane. You fly. Just take me up and let me shoot some pics, lets fly over this spot. Would they get in trouble for that?

They could. There are two interrelated things at work here.

One is that aerial photography requires a commercial certificate. The other is that the FAA has, in a number of different scenarios, treated building flight time as a form of compensation to the pilot.

So if that local GA pilot is a commercial pilot, no problem. If it's a private pilot, there could be one.

BTW, assuming you fit =correctly= into the commercial pilot/aerial photography "box," who pays for the plane (client or pilot) doesn't matter. Fitting correctly means, among other things, no landings other than at the airport you took off from.

 

[100LL... Again!]

People work very hard and spens a lot of money to EARN commercial pilot certificates.

That certification is required if someone wants to use an airplane to make money.

It is for your safety and the safety of others that the regs require properly certificated airmen at the control of a commercial flight (aerial photography included).

It's too bad that paying a professional 'cuts into' your profit margin, but that's how it is. We don't need any marginally qualified private pilots getting free flight time circling our neighborhoods.

Hire a professional, there's a reason the regs EXPRESSLY prohibit the type of operation you propose.

 

[777-2H4]

How much do comm. pilots of a C172 go for - what's the going rate? Or does it depend on the region?

 

[Learsforsale]

How much do comm. pilots of a C172 go for - what's the going rate? Or does it depend on the region?

I flew a couple of photo missions when I was an instructor at BWI and they charged $45/hour for me (I saw $20). Depending on the photographer, site locations, camera, weather, etc. we could usually bang out 7-8 sites in an hour.

 

[navigator72]

I pay $115.00 /hr for plane and pilot and I always give the pilot a tip (always tip the pilot) and I still make a great profit. For those of you who are now going to ask what I charge. I usually profit $400 - $800 per hour.

 

[Learsforsale]

I pay $115.00 /hr for plane and pilot and I always give the pilot a tip (always tip the pilot) and I still make a great profit. For those of you who are now going to ask what I charge. I usually profit $400 - $800 per hour.

Then you defintely we not the guy I took up on photo flights. We got in a shouting match while circling 1.2 DME north of the DC FRZ. Not only did I not get a tip, but he didn't want to pay for the .3 that we spent on the ground trying to find city intersections on a TAC.

 

[777-2H4]

I usually profit $400 - $800 per hour.

There's a dude selling DVDs online on how to make that much as an aerial photographer with no flight experience and practically no photo experience - sounds like a get rich quick scheme to me, but you're proof that it works? Or, are YOU that dude? LOL....do you have some how-to DVD's for sale? hahaha

Seriously though, that would be a great side gig to a regular job.

 

[gsrcrsx68]

7772h4, where are u located?