Steve Lewis, an MIT graduate and one of the founders of aircraft ride-sharing site AirPooler, says the startup will press the FAA for further clarification of a letter the agency sent that effectively pulled the plug on services that are designed to link private pilots with passengers headed for the same destination.
The problem with the FAA’s position, Lewis says, is the agency’s use of a draft policy written in 1963 to contend that cost-sharing through sites like AirPooler constitutes compensation and “holding out” as a commercial air carrier. But in 1964 the FAA reversed that policy to allow private pilots to share the pro-rata expenses of personal flights with passengers. The agency further clarified the rules in the 1990s to amend the “common purpose” portion of the rule to allow a pilot and passenger to travel to the same location but not necessarily for the same reason. In other words, the pilot could be traveling to Cape Cod for a wedding and the passenger to visit relatives, and each could share the costs of the trip.
