Cost Sharing - IAOPA News

[Level Attitude]

A previous thread on this subject was closed, but I thought people,
especially Steve6443, would be interested in this article from the
latest IAOPA news letter:

EC allays threat to cost-sharing


More positive news on the lobbying front in Brussels – the European Commission’s
transport department, DG MOVE, is to lift some restrictions on cost-sharing which
could have had a devastating impact on general aviation. It had been proposed that
because money was changing hands, cost-sharing between GA pilots and passengers
should be an illegal activity. However, following concerted work by IAOPA’s Brussels
lobbyist Lutz Dommel and IAOPA executives, policy officers at DG MOVE have
informed IAOPA that in the proposed Ops rules they have put in place the ability for
up to six people to cost-share, one of whom must be the pilot. IAOPA Senior Vice
President MartinRobinson said: “This is a major step forward and we are grateful to
the policy officers for coming to this decision. We met with them at Aero Friedrichshafen
and were very pleased to find that our work had borne fruit. Removing
the ability to cost-share would have been a major blow to general aviation. Not only will
it be allowed, but the maximum number of participants will be set at six – at the
moment it is four in many countries, and in other states, the picture on cost-sharing
has been confused. For many pilots, this single decision will have been worth AOPA
membership many times over

[Steve6443]

Level Attitude,

Thanks for the information, seems like the German authorities moved just as quickly because on the 3rd of May they announced the below. I wanted to post it but saw the original thread had been locked and didn't fancy starting a new thread which could descend into a flame war....

Here (https://aopa.de/entwicklung/upload/PDF/Aktuelles/BMVBS/130430_Schreiben_an_KOM_Final.pdf) is a link to a letter from the German Transport Ministry where they state their position with regards the new EU regulations, namely that they believe the VO (EU) Nr. 1178/2011 would negatively impact flying clubs significantly and they require this to be reviewed and, until this is reviewed, they would allow flights for clubs at a cost basis plus cost sharing flights for PPLs.

Surprised me really that the government moved so quickly, we weren't expecting anything to happen before 2015 so at least those people who wanted to book pleasure flights can do so and I, as a PPL, don't have to worry about breaking EU law if I take them for this trip on behalf of the club, or if I do cost sharing with other people.....

[Level Attitude]

those people who wanted to book pleasure flights can do so and I, as a PPL, don't have to worry about breaking EU law if I take them for this trip on behalf of the club
Steve6443
Are you sure this was/is allowed in Germany?

Sounds like commercial passenger transport to me.

In the UK 'pleasure flights' could only be carried out by a CPL holder, working
for an organisation that held an AOC.

However 'Trial lessons' can be conducted by a PPL holder (provided they
are also an Instructor) working for a club/school that is an ATO.

A "Trial Lesson" is very different to a "Pleasure Flight"

[Steve6443]

Hi Level Attitude,

yes, it was previously allowed and, in future, will continue to be allowed. Our club rewarded those that chartered the club machines the most with the task of taking guests for pleasure flights, the only limitation was minimum 100 hours post PPL, no CPL / ATPL required.

Indeed, I was informed by the Bezirks Regierung that a CPL / ATPL flying a club machine on such a flight is NOT exercising his rights as a CPL / ATPL, rather he is "just" a PPL because the club is not a commercial operation and the above rights can only be exercised in the realms of a commercial operation......

Perhaps I should state that the club I fly with and for whom such rules apply is JUST a flying club owned by and run for the benefit of the members and NOT a commercial flying school......

The critical sentences from the letter I posted above are:

Bislang war es Privatpiloten nach nationalem Recht gestattet, Personenbeförderungen und Rundflüge mit Luftfahrzeugen bis zu
vier Sitzen gegen Entgelt anzubieten, ohne dass es hierfür einer Betriebsgenehmigung nach § 20 Absatz 1 LuftVG oder einer Berufspilotenlizenz bedurfte.

Das deutsche Recht unterscheidet dabei zwischen „gewerblicher Beförderung“ und „Beförderung gegen Entgelt“. Bei der gewerblichen
Beförderung handelt es sich um eine auf Dauer angelegte Tätigkeit mit
Gewinnerzielungsabsicht. Dagegen handelt es sich bei der Beförderung gegen Entgelt um eine gelegentliche Tätigkeit, bei der nicht gewollt ist, auf Dauer Gewinn zu erwirtschaften. Hiervon umfasst sind
insbesondere die Selbstkostenflüge.

ROUGH TRANSLATION:

Previously private pilots were allowed under national law to offer transportation and pleasure flights with aircraft with up to 4 seats for payment without the necessity of a operating licence according to Chapter 20 Paragraph 1 of the Air Transportion Laws or the requirement of a commercial pilots licence.

German law differentiates between commercial transportation and paid transportation. Commercial transportation is a regular, long term activity with an aim to generating profit. Paid transportation is a sporadic activity where the long term target is not to generate profit. Included in this consideration are self cost flights....