The Air Charter Association (ACA) is spotlighting the dangers of illegal charter flights through its annual Fly Legal Day initiative taking place on January 21, 2025.
" unlicensed operators are not bound by the rigorous commercial aviation regulations governing maintenance, crew training and operational management, which are essential for passenger safety."
"AH–the answer to “more safety” is “more regulation” argument.
Yet Part 91 business aviation has a record far better than the highly regulated Part 135 “air taxi” business–utilizing the same type of aircraft.
Part of the reason for the poorer showing of Part 135 operations is the high cost of compliance with the higher standards set by the FAA for Part 135–operators cut corners to stay in business.
Beyond cost alone, another example of this difference in safety is demonstrated by the pilots themselves–it is a rare Part 91 Corporate pilot that wistfully says “I sure wish I could get a Part 135 Air Taxi job!”
What is the legality of “free legs”? Let’s take an example. A Canadian registered a/c takes 2 passengers from Toronto Pearson to Miami and is scheduled to come back empty.
Then, it it flies 4 other American passengers from Miami to Nassau (short notice) come back in Miami to pick up 2 other extra American passengers back to Toronto.
Note that the original passengers had already paid to charter the a/c from Toronto to Miami and back.
The a/c is flying under CARS 704 ( part 135). How do we make sure this is not defined as Cabotage?