Regulations and Airman Privileges/Limitations
Scope of the rating
The private pilot certificate with a lighter-than-air category and balloon class rating lets you act as pilot in command of a hot air balloon, carry passengers, and use the certificate in connection with a business only in the narrow ways the rule allows. The test probes the limits of those privileges, your currency and medical status, and the Part 91 operating rules that apply to every flight.
Core rules
- Privileges (14 CFR 61.113). You may not carry persons or property for compensation or hire, and you may not act as PIC for compensation or hire. You may share the operating expenses of a flight with your passengers, provided the pilot pays at least a pro rata share - the pilot's share is never the smallest.
- Passenger currency (61.57). To carry passengers you need three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days in a balloon. Night currency requires three takeoffs and landings to a full stop between 1 hour after sunset and 1 hour before sunrise.
- Flight review (61.56). Every 24 calendar months, with at least 1 hour of ground training and 1 hour of flight training.
- Medical (61.23). A current third-class medical certificate, or BasicMed where the operation qualifies, is required to exercise private pilot privileges.
- PIC duties (91.3, 91.103). You are directly responsible for the operation and must become familiar with all available information before flight: weather, fuel, alternatives, weight and balance.
- Minimum altitudes (91.119). Over congested areas, 1,000 ft above the highest obstacle within 2,000 ft; elsewhere, 500 ft from any person, vessel, vehicle or structure. Balloons get no exemption; 91.13 careless or reckless operation applies on top of that.
Worked example
A flight costs $600 in propane, crew fuel and launch fees, and you carry two passengers. Split three ways, the pilot must pay at least $200 and the passengers no more than $400 total. If one passenger offers to cover the whole $600, accepting converts the flight into a commercial operation. Currency example: your last three landings were 95 days ago, so you may fly solo but not with passengers until you log three more.
Traps
Believing a charity sightseeing flight is automatically allowed; logging PIC time when someone else manipulated the controls and you were not the sole manipulator; and forgetting the 90-day clock runs from the date of the landing, not the calendar month.