Originally Posted by
Lead Balloon
(It makes it easier to understand the classification of operations scheme once you realise that the factors which determine the various classifications have nothing to do with objective safety or the acceptance of understood risks.)
The Australian rules are in many ways a complete and utter mess and often what the rule actually says isn't really what it means. For instance, have people here ever taken a mate for a flight just for fun, no money changing hands. Is that a private flight? Perhaps not if you didn't get some $$ out of them, read CAR 7A...
(7A) An aircraft that carries persons on a flight, otherwise than in accordance with a fixed schedule between terminals, is employed in a private operation if:
(a) public notice of the flight has not been given by any form of public advertisement or announcement; and
(b) the number of persons on the flight, including the operating crew, does not exceed 6; and
(c) no payment is made for the services of the operating crew; and
(d) the persons on the flight, including the operating crew, share equally in the costs of the flight; and
(e) no payment is required for a person on the flight other than a payment under paragraph (d).