fly911, forgive me, I did not necessarily mean you personally.
The mis-interpretation I was referring to is the definition of "public aircraft" found in FAR 1.1. In order for this flight to have utilised the "public use" clause, he would have to be contracted for "at least 90 consecutive days". There are many people out there who assume that because they get called out on a CWN contract, (call when needed), that they automatically become public use. Not so.
14 CFR FAR Part 1 Sec. 1.1
Public aircraft means any of the following aircraft when not being used for a commercial purpose or to carry an individual other than a crewmember or qualified non-crewmenber:
(1) An aircraft used only for the United States Government; an aircraft owned by the Government and operated by any person for purposes related to crew training, equipment development, or demonstration; an aircraft owned and operated by the government of a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United States or a political subdivision of one of these governments; or an aircraft exclusively leased for at least 90 continuous days by the government of a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United States or a political subdivision of one of these governments.