Passenger Carrying Endorsement and a Friend Who Offers to Pay
You hold a recreational pilot certificate with a Passenger Carrying Endorsement, current flight review, and a valid medical self-declaration. A friend asks you to fly him 120 NM to a sporting event. He offers to pay the full wet-hire cost of the aircraft, about $280, and says he will also cover your landing fees. You have 180 hours total time, 25 hours on type, and 6 hours in the last 90 days, including three takeoffs and landings in the last 30 days. The aircraft is registered to a syndicate you belong to; your name is not on the certificate of registration. The flight would be at night for the last 20 minutes.
1. Identify which elements of this flight you may and may not lawfully conduct, and why.
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Passengers are permitted with the endorsement, but the payment is the problem. A private operation cannot be conducted for hire or reward; the passenger paying the full wet-hire cost plus landing fees means you are not sharing costs, you are being reimbursed for the flight, which is a commercial operation outside your certificate. Cost sharing must be a genuine, proportionate split of direct costs, not the passenger funding the whole flight. The night portion is also a limitation: unless your certificate and aircraft are endorsed and equipped for night flying, and you meet the recency and lighting requirements, the last 20 minutes are not authorised. The syndicate registration is fine for your use as a member, but check the syndicate rules on carrying passengers and on cost sharing.
2. State the recency and documentation position, and what you would tell your friend.
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Recency: 6 hours in 90 days and three takeoffs and landings in 30 days satisfies a typical passenger-carrying recency standard, but confirm the exact rule in your operations manual, including whether the three landings must be in the same type. Documentation: certificate, endorsement, medical self-declaration, flight review, aircraft registration, maintenance release, and current charts and ERSA. The registration being in the syndicate's name is normal; you must be able to show the aircraft is airworthy and that you are authorised to fly it. Tell your friend you cannot accept full payment - you can split direct costs proportionately - and that the night leg must be dropped unless you and the aircraft are night-capable. Offer a daylight flight with a fair cost split.