Charity Flights - (Not the usual Question)

[MrAverage]

Can a charity flight be paid for in full by one club member and flown by another? Obviously there would be no payment by the recipient who would get free temporary membership of the club and the PPL flying could receive no payment. I ask the question because it could be said valuable consideration was given to the owner of the club (a limited company) because of the profit element of the solo rate.

How would this change if an instructor was paid for the flight and the generous club member paid the dual rate?

Looking for confirmation of my interpretation of the rules!

[Whopity]

It really doesn't mater who makes the payment, its the purpose of the payment that is relevant. In the case of a Charity Flight, the money goes to a registered charity in accordance with the terms of AIC 70(W153)/08 (http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/aip/current/aic/EG_Circ_2008_W_070_en.pdf) The AIC makes it clear who can fly such a flight.

[MrAverage]

Sorry. I didn't make myself clear. The flight would not be a normal charity flight where payment was made to a charity. The purpose of the flight would be to take terminally ill or underprivileged children flying on behalf of the charity.

[Whopity]

The only way a Charity Flight can be conducted is in accordance with the AIC. Looks like you have three choices, pay an AOC operator to fly them; take them on a trial lesson flown by a flying instructor or find a benevolent PPL holder who will fly then for free.

[BigGrecian]

I'm just wondering about this organisation :

Flight horizons (http://flighthorizons.co.uk/)

Although what they do is great - I'm pretty sure their pilot's have to hold an FI as basically state they are providing instruction as they let them "pilot an aeroplane"

[frontlefthamster]

I think you may be right to wonder about it, a visit to their website raises some serious concerns in my mind.

Not least that, so far as I can see, they are not a registered charity, so the AIC would not apply.

I wonder what's going on here?

[robin]

Its not a millon miles away from what a lot of similar organisations do. The LAA/PFA's YA scheme did exactly that outside of the AIC requirements under some form of exemption

I think this particular website is sloppily produced. On one page it uses the words 'piloting a plane' and on another it says 'flying in a light aircraft'

[Whopity]

If someone had a large pot of money they could provide private flights quite legally. How the money gets into the pot is not an issue so long as it is not for the purpose of the flight. If the money (donations) go into the pot regardless of whether the flight goes or not, it could be claimed that it is not directly for the purpose of the flight.

[frontlefthamster]

I found this page particularly worrying:
http://flighthorizons.co.uk/riskassessing.aspx (http://flighthorizons.co.uk/riskassessing.aspx)

It then prompted me to look deeper into the documents available on the site. One, the Charter of Flight horizons (sic) says:

The chairman of the governing commitee must comply with their obligations under the Charities Act 1993 with regard to:
(i) the keeping of accounting records for Flight horizons;
(ii) the preparation of annual statements of account for Flight horizons;
(iii) the auditing or independent examination of the statements of account of the Flight horizons;
(iv) the transmission of the statements of account of Flight horizons to the charities commission;
(v) the preparation of an annual report and its transmission to the charities commission;
(vi) the preparation of an annual return and its transmission to the charities commission

The Flight Horizons website says:

We are a not for profit organisation which means we run entirely on donations and all of the donations go into the organisation.

A search of the Charity Commission website http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ (http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/) reveals there is no registered charity called Flight Horizons, or with a similar name. Also, the present legislation is the 2006 Act, not one dated 1993; Flight Horizons was formed in 2007.

The AIC says:

The types of flights which the provisions and the term ‘Charity Flights’ encompass are:
(a) The carriage of passengers, which includes children of all ages, on flights for which no payment is made to the operator or pilot of the aircraft but for which the passengers make a payment, all of which is contributed to a registered charity; or
(b) the carriage of passengers on a flight as a prize in a lottery, the total proceeds of which go to a registered charity; or
(c) a sponsored flight, either with or without passengers, for which the total proceeds go to a registered charity.

But the Flight Horizons website says:

Please ensure that you can attend when arranged - wasted flights will cost Flight Horizons the full cost of the hire of the aircraft. (my bold)

So, unless I'm not seeing the full picture, there may be something fishy about this, it seems to me...

[Whopity]

The "Charity Flight" as described in the AIC is an exemption to the ANO to facilitate payment to be made for the purpose of the flight when such payment is made to a Registered Charity. Without this provision the flight would be deemed to be Public Transport.

If the flight can be conducted as a Private Flight, or as a Flying Lesson (Aerial Work) then its is not a Public Transport flight, no exemption is needed and the Charity issue is totally irrelevant.

[frontlefthamster]

Whopity,

If you're right, (and I hope there is nothing fishy about this organisation at all) I'd still be concerned about an organisation that lists obligations for its officers which are to do with reporting to the Charity Commission, when it's not a registered charity.

The trusting reader of the organisation's charter would be left with the impression that it is a registered charity. That is wrong.

[Whopity]

Charities can be Registered or Unregistered. (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Gettinginvolvedinyourcommunity/Charities/Startingacharity/Becomingaregisteredcharity/DG_194965) Clearly this organisation cannot operate Charity flights but it should make the status of the flight clear as there are different levels of risk involved which I am sure organisations using such flights should be aware of.

I am always puzzled as to how you can buy a flight in a Spitfire!

[Charlie Foxtrot India]

I was looking for the definition of "not for profit organisation" as I thought there would be a bit more to it than "We are a not for profit organisation which means we run entirely on donations and all of the donations go into the organisation" and found this

http://www.resourcecentre.org.uk/information/setting_up/info_pdf/not4prof.pdf