Commercial Pilots build time for free this way.

tt1600

Newbie
Jun 24, 2008
2
0
I have set up a number of Sightseeing tours very easily in Daytona Beach and St. Augustine, Florida.
In St. Augustine, this is all I had to do.....

My buddy had a piper so I asked him to fly it up to St. Augustine with me driving up in my car. Then I parked near the historic district and asked a few toursists if they would like to see the city from the air and have an Air-Tour for $23 each. Right away one group said ok, that sounded good to them, and they followed me to the airport in their car.

After they took off in my buddy's airplane, I drove right back downtown and started asking some more people. Right away I found another group, and they followed me to the airport in their car too! It was great!

After that I had my friend fly a homeless lady to Jacksonville because she said she wanted to go there, and then I called it a day because I had discovered how to make the Sightseeing tours work. So, if you want to build time for free this works! Although, I am not sure about the legality of sociciting the tours on the street, so you might want to look into getting a permit for it, of just informing the visitor information centers and hotels.

Also, I set up a few tours of Daytona Beach and had those flown by renting a plane from Dave at "Wrightway" Aviation in Daytona. He said it would be ok to rent his aircraft to fly tours. A lot of other FBOs have told me I could not do that.
 
I have set up a number of Sightseeing tours very easily in Daytona Beach and St. Augustine, Florida.
In St. Augustine, this is all I had to do.....

My buddy had a piper so I asked him to fly it up to St. Augustine with me driving up in my car. Then I parked near the historic district and asked a few toursists if they would like to see the city from the air and have an Air-Tour for $23 each. Right away one group said ok, that sounded good to them, and they followed me to the airport in their car.

After they took off in my buddy's airplane, I drove right back downtown and started asking some more people. Right away I found another group, and they followed me to the airport in their car too! It was great!

After that I had my friend fly a homeless lady to Jacksonville because she said she wanted to go there, and then I called it a day because I had discovered how to make the Sightseeing tours work. So, if you want to build time for free this works! Although, I am not sure about the legality of sociciting the tours on the street, so you might want to look into getting a permit for it, of just informing the visitor information centers and hotels.

Also, I set up a few tours of Daytona Beach and had those flown by renting a plane from Dave at "Wrightway" Aviation in Daytona. He said it would be ok to rent his aircraft to fly tours. A lot of other FBOs have told me I could not do that.

Lesson number one: If you question the legality of something...don't blurt it (or what you did) out. You may get a special visitor wanting to know more about your operation. ;)

As long as you are a commercial pilot, you can collect money for the flight. Otherwise, it's the pro rata rate for the cost of operation of your aircraft that has to be paid by each person (pilot included). If you are in the business of collecting green, I do recommend incorporating. (TT1600's Air Tours, Inc.). As far as soliciting tours, it depends on the municipality you're soliciting in. And on what property you're doing it on. (I recommend printing pamphlets or flyers to put up in local hotels, where tourists stay at and look for what to do in the town).

One class I had to take was aviation law. And I didn't get an A for nothing! :up:

Blue Skies and Tailwinds to you!
 
Not really sure about this since I've been out of the GA game for a while, but that friend's Piper you used might have to have 100 hour inspections to carry passengers for hire, even if just for tours. If you were within 100 hours of the last annual, that would be okay. But once the tach went beyond 100 hours past annual, the airplane would have to have the inspection and sign-off. (Hundred hour inspections are pretty much as expensive as annuals, since it's the same inspection. The only difference is an A&P can sign off the 100-hour; an Authorized Inspector or FAA repair station has to certify the annual.)

And I assume the homeless lady didn't pay anything to go to Jacksonville. If she had given you even a dime for your service, that would be an FAR violation as you must get an FAR 135 air taxi certificate to take people places and charge for it.