What’s it like to cost-share with people you’ve never met? Richard Singleton is 54 and started fl ying fi xed-wing aircraft in 2004, he then added helicopters in 2010. He has 400 fi xed-wing hours and 250 rotary. He fl ies
rented Warriors, Cherokees, a Lance, an Arrow and the Robinson range including the fi ve-seat R66. He fl ies mostly in the UK and occasionally abroad. While he tries to fl y
fi xed and rotary at no more than
three weekly intervals, staying current in such a range of aircraft is inevitably expensive and he wanted to fi nd a way to ease the costs, then a friend suggested to him that he explore cost-sharing fl ights.
“I’d fl own friends of friends and thought I’d give it a go and see if the person Baggage might be problematic…
and there should be a proper pre-fl ight briefi ng for all passengers on the day. Another question that is being asked is whether the insurance companies accept the legality of the new cost-sharing regime. Pilots are advised to check with their insurers. Some of the sites off ering cost- sharing fl ights will provide complementary civil liability insurance, it’s worth checking. It’s also worth bearing in mind security
issues, especially if fl ying to and from abroad. Pilots need to take responsibility for passengers’ baggage and should always check to confi rm they are not carrying anything illegal – and the best advice is if in doubt, leave the passenger behind. To ensure that cost-sharing remains
non-commercial (otherwise it would require an Air Operator’s Certifi cate) on the fl ight-sharing platforms, some of the companies compare the cost of the fl ight put forward by the pilot against an average and if it doesn’t match up the company is likely to discuss the issue with the pilot. But while pilots can now pay less of the
costs under the new cost-sharing rules, these fl ights shouldn’t be seen as a back door into commercial fl ying – private pilots operating under such schemes can only share the direct costs of the fl ight and must not make a profi t. The intention of the regulation is that pilots will do more fl ying for fun and enjoy it while sharing a love of the skies with others.
enjoyed the fl ight,” he says. “They did and had a fabulous time. Everyone enjoyed it so it seemed to make good sense on the basis of the more you do, the better you get.” So he decided to try a cost-sharing platform which meant providing proof of his passport and the validity of his medical and licences before he could off er any fl ights. So far these have been mostly local and often in one of the Robinsons. One was a birthday surprise for an 88-year-old and he fl ew her and her
daughter over their local villages. On another outing he fl ew a fi xed-wing pilot who was thinking of converting to helicopters to a hotel which gave Richard the opportunity to practise confi ned area landings. As you might expect with the fi ckle British weather things haven’t always gone according to plan. On one longer fl ight the weather turned sour ahead, so he explained the situation to the passengers and suggested a local sight- seeing trip instead, which they were happy to do. Initially, there was a certain apprehension about fl ying with people he’d
never met. “It was way outside my experience,” he says, “so I wrote myself a little brief of things they’d like to know. We meet in the airfi eld café fi rst and have a chat which gives me a chance to fi nd out what they’re like and if there are likely to be any issues. “They are generally a bit nervous at fi rst when we get in the aircraft and
we’ll taxi back if they want to, but I try to put them at their ease and once in the air they love it.” So far, he says, all the people he has fl own have been extremely personable
and communicative in the air and there have been no issues. Post fl ight he tends to ask whether there was anything he could have done to improve the fl ight for them. While the percentage of the fl ight costs payable by him under the
regulations could now actually be quite low, any fl ights made through a cost-sharing third-party platform that he occasionally uses tend to be on an equal percentage of the direct costs of the fl ight, so 50 percent if there’s one passenger, but if he was fl ying the Lance with fi ve others, then he’d only pay one-sixth. “I enjoy doing it and it makes signifi cant savings,” he adds. “I fl y more so it keeps things slick and fl uid. This certainly helps maintain currency and I can’t see any downside to cost-sharing, so I plan to keep doing it unless there’s a legal issue that stops it.”
Summer 2018 CLUED UP 9
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