Originally Posted by
Hughes500
Jelly
There is no legal standing in terms of operator . It is not against the law for a member of the public to hire an aircraft. It is not against the law for that same person to engage the services of a CPL. Public transport is where an entity offers aircraft, fuel and crew
Seems correct (there are analogies with car sharing where the discussion has been more advanced). You can rent out your non-AOC helicopter to any person and that person becomes the operator for that flight under your insurance (if your policy includes rental). As the operator, they can then "borrow" a PPL (must not be paid) or hire a CPL (for any amount they like). The CAA are happy with this arrangement. Helipaddy talk about this at
https://helipaddy.com/aocs-charter-and-rental/.
You have to be careful that the person or pilot do not sell any spare seats on the aircraft to other third parties. That would now become cost-sharing.