Originally Posted by
Luc Lion
If the pilot is FAA PPL (private pilot licence) with an FAA IR, it could still be legal (but on the edge) if the pilot is not paid and if the flight is organised by him and the footballers.
Some participation to the flight cost by the passengers is even possible in this configuration.
Not under US law it isn't. As a PPL holder you have to have a purpose for making that flight other than to give someone a ride from point A to point B. You as the pilot have to have your own reason for making that flight for it to be legal. If D. Ibottson did not have his own independent reason for flying from Nance to Cardiff that day, this flight was not legal. AND you have to pay your pro-rats share of the costs.