Originally Posted by
englishal
There is a website called "Pilot Share The Ride" on which people wanting to go from A to B can advertise as pax, and pilots going from A to B can advertise as pilots. Now if a pilot says "I'm going to be flying from LAX to Tucson on tuesday at 10am" and a PAX then contacts him and says "Great can I come, I'll pay my share" then it is legit. Likewise if a pax advertises and says "I want to go from LA to Tucson on Tuesday" and a pilot is already intending to make the trip then again it is legit...No one has been holding out. I guess this could be extended worldwide and into Europe...
As that site is US based, it is worth highlighting to the N-reg operators that this type of operation can easily tip into illegal public transport if it falls foul of the "common purpose" requirement (which englishal's specific example clearly does).
Administrative Law Judges of the NTSB use a common-purpose test that is not in FAR 61.113. The Judges seek evidence the pilot and the passengers were engaged in a trip for a "common purpose" [Administrator v. Carter, Order EA-3730, Docket SE12735, NTSB Decisions (1992)]. Under the "common purpose" test, if the pilot and passenger(s) are embarked on a flight for the same reasons, then they can share expenses under 61.113 [NOTE - But not in the UK without DfT permission].
If the passengers want to go from point A, to point B, and the pilot is simply the driver or has other interests for making the flight, there is no common purpose. If he takes any compensation or economic benefit the pilot is, in effect, running a charter operation and should comply with FAR 119 &135.