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Why Most Private Aircraft Operators Violate the FAA's Operating Rules

BY David G. Mayer
November 25, 2013

Last month, we noted that, according to a recent Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation study on the business aircraft financing market, a high percentage of business aircraft operators do not comply with key provisions of Parts 91, 119 and 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (“FARs”), conducting their flight operations by and through illegal “flight department companies” in violation of these Parts of the FARs. Further, few, if any, of those involved in this situation intend to change their ways during the study period spanning from now through 2016.'

We first explained how operators can cross the line from Part 91 private operations into the forbidden zone of uncertificated Part 135 commercial operations. Building on this legal foundation, we then shared the relevant findings obtained from the 2013 study commissioned by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation. David Mayer, a co-author of this article, wrote the study, titled: “From Recession to Recovery: Aircraft Transactions Build Momentum Despite Industry Challenges.”

In this Part Two herein, we describe certain limited and narrow exemptions that do allow specific “commercial” aircraft operations to be conducted solely under Part 91 rather than the operator also having to fully comply with Parts 119 and 135 as well. We end with a short description of four additional risks associated with an illegal flight department company that every lawyer (and client) should know before using an SPE in a structure created to operate business aircraft in the event an operator cannot ' or does not want to ' fit into the basic rules or their exemptions as noted above.'

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