NCO.GEN.102(d) and (e): private, unpaid pilots only

NCO.GEN.102(d) and (e) keep cost sharing a private arrangement: the flight must be operated by a private individual, not a company or organisation, and no pilot on board may be employed or contracted as a pilot for that flight. ANO 2016 art. 13(2)(d) and (e) say the same for non-Part-21 aircraft.

The text

NCO.GEN.102(d) and (e):

(d) The flight must be operated by a private individual.

(e) No person acting as a pilot is employed as a pilot or acting under a contract for the provision of services as a pilot for the flight.

ANO 2016 art. 13(2)(d) and (e):

(d) the flight is operated by a private individual;

(e) no person acting as a pilot is employed as a pilot or acting under a contract for the provision of services as a pilot for the flight;

Point (e) is word for word the same in both. Point (d) differs only in "is operated" and "must be operated".

Neither text defines "private individual". CAP 1590 (guidance), footnote 1, explains it:

The term ‘private individual’ in the context of cost-sharing flights, refers to pilots, who may also be the operator, and who must be acting as a private individual, i.e. not an organisation or company etc.

The CAA's cost sharing web page adds: "Cost sharing flights cannot form part of a business activity through an organisation."

What it means in practice

Point (d): who operates the flight. You, as an individual, organise and fly the trip. Hiring a club aircraft is fine; rental at market rate is a direct cost. What point (d) rules out is a business or organisation running cost-shared flights as a service. Flights by training organisations and aerial sport organisations have their own, narrower derogation in Article 6(4a)(c), covered on the Article 6(4a) page.

Point (e): no paid pilot. Cost sharing means the passengers contribute towards costs you would otherwise pay. If anyone acting as a pilot is employed or contracted to fly that flight, it isn't cost sharing. "No person acting as a pilot" covers every pilot on board, not only the pilot in command.

Worked example. Two friends want to visit the Isle of Wight. One holds a PPL, hires a club aircraft and splits the direct costs with the other: points (d) and (e) are met. If instead they paid a commercial pilot a fee to fly them, point (e) would fail, and the flight would be a commercial one needing an AOC. See cost sharing vs charter.

Profession is not the test. Point (e) refers to being employed or contracted "for the flight". On a plain reading, an instructor or airline pilot flying privately in their own time is not caught. They still cannot make a profit; CAP 1590, para 3, says "There can be no element of profit for the pilot".

Grey areas

• Company-owned aircraft. The sources don't address a pilot cost sharing in an aircraft registered to or leased by a company, including their own. The cautious approach is to make sure you, personally, are operating the flight and paying the non-direct costs, and to ask the CAA if the aircraft is a business asset.
• Who is the "operator". Point (h) gives record-keeping duties to "the operator of the flight", and CAP 1590 footnote 1 says the pilot "may also be the operator". When you hire an aircraft it is not settled whether the club is the operator for this purpose. The cautious approach is to treat yourself as the operator and keep the records yourself; see point (g) and (h).

How to comply

• Organise the flight yourself, as an individual, not through a business.
• Don't accept, and don't let any other pilot on board accept, payment or a contract to fly.
• Take only a share of direct costs, capped under point (c).
• If a company is involved in the aircraft or the arrangements, check before you fly. Can a PPL charge passengers? covers the wider question.