Commercial Pilot
Privileges and
Limitations
A brief summary of how to remain legally safe
as a commercial pilot.
COMMERCIAL PILOT PRIVILEGES & LIMITATIONS VERSION 2 REVISED 8/10/23
Log of Revisions
Version Date Revisions
1 05/15/2022 Original
2 08/10/2023 Content; Design;
This guide is for educational purposes only and is not a legal document.
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COMMERCIAL PILOT PRIVILEGES & LIMITATIONS VERSION 2 REVISED 8/10/23
Two Privileges
A commercial pilot certi cate allows a pilot two important privileges. Per 14 CFR
§61.133, commercial pilots can act as pilot in command (PIC) for compensation
or hire, or while carrying persons or property for compensation or hire. These
privileges come with a caveat: the PIC must be quali ed under the applicable
regulations that govern that type of operation.
Therein lies much confusion about commercial pilot privileges. “Carrying
persons or property for compensation or hire” and “acting as PIC for
compensation or hire” are two very separate things.
The former is a situation in which both the pilot and airplane are for hire to do
things like transport people, mail, and property. Think airlines, charter
companies, and air cargo. Organizations that do this kind of work are called air
carriers and are additionally governed under Subchapter G, covering Parts
110-139.
The latter is ying someone else’s airplane for hire, assuming that you are not
also ying persons or property for hire in the process. This type of operation is
not governed under Subchapter G.
The fundamental challenge in understanding commercial pilot privileges and
limitations is determining whether or not an operation involves the carriage of
persons or property for hire. This is an area that causes many a commercial pilot
applicant to bust a practical test oral exam, and that tricks others into
performing actions that they’re legally not authorized to conduct. So, it’s critical
to understand this area in detail.
Operational Control
Operational Control is the degree to which customers have control over the
operation—whether or not ights dispatch due to weather, fuel loading,
destinations, and so on. Generally, the more operational control that customers
have, the less regulation is required.
Carrying mail and passengers for hire is heavily regulated because those
customers have no operational control. If a passenger does not wish to go they
can choose to not board, but that decision will have zero impact on whether or
not the ight leaves. If the operation’s employees, namely pilots and
dispatchers, deem it safe, the ight will go.
FAA Advisory Circular (AC) 91-37B provides us with the following sample
questions to help determine who maintains operational control:
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COMMERCIAL PILOT PRIVILEGES & LIMITATIONS VERSION 2 REVISED 8/10/23
1. Who decides to assign crewmembers and aircraft; accept ight requests;
and initiate, conduct, and terminate ights?
2. For whom do the pilots work as direct employees or agents?
3. Who is maintaining the aircraft and where is it maintained?
4. Before departure, who ensures the ight, aircraft, and crew comply with
regulations?
5. Who decides when/where maintenance is accomplished, and who directly
pays for the maintenance?
6. Who determines weather/fuel requirements, and who directly pays for the
fuel?
7. Who directly pays for the airport fees, parking/hangar costs, food, service,
and/or rental cars?
Determining whether or not the operation requires an air carrier certi cate can
be di cult because the world of commercial aviation is full of ambiguity, shady
operations, and low-time pilots eager to build time.
We recommend erring on the side of caution should there be any question about
whether or not an operation requires an air carrier certi cate.
Air Carriers
The focus of this discussion is preventing new commercial pilots who are not
conducting operations as an air carrier from acting as such, nevertheless, more
context about air carriers may be helpful. Air carriers are governed under 14
CFR Subchapter G, mainly Parts 121 and 135.
Regularly scheduled air carrier operations are governed under Part 121. For
simplicity, this includes most airlines from large majors like United Airlines and
Delta Air Lines to smaller regional operators like SkyWest Airlines and Mesa
Airlines.
Part 135 operations are on-demand charter operations. Kenmore Air, Mokulele,
Surf Air, JSX, and Boutique are examples of larger Part 135 operations.
Sometimes Part 121 operators will also maintain a Part 135 certi cate for certain
operations. SkyWest Airlines made recent news for applying this strategy to hire
pilots with less experience than required under Part 121.
Consider the customers’ operation control in each type of air carrier. It’s lower
for those ying on Part 121 operators, and so airlines are generally subject to
more regulation than on-demand air carriers. Intuitively, United Airlines is
required to comply with more regulations than Kenmore Air.
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COMMERCIAL PILOT PRIVILEGES & LIMITATIONS VERSION 2 REVISED 8/10/23
This includes the requirements to serve as a pilot for either operation. As career-
aspiring pilots well know, serving as a pilot in a Part 121 operation requires,
among other experience, an Airline Transport Pilot certi cate, for which pilots
are only eligible once they’ve achieved a minimum of 1,500 hours of ight time.
Private vs. Common Carriage
The next boondoggle we must confront is the distinction between Private and
Common Carriage operations. These are common law terms, but they’re not
well-de ned in 14 CFR. Fortunately, Advisory Circular 120-12A further de nes
them.
Common Carriage is carriage that involves four criteria: (1) a holding out (more
about this term later, but basically advertising services) or a willingness to (2)
transport persons or property (3) from place to place (4) for compensation. An air
carrier certi cate is required to conduct common carriage operations.
Private Carriage is carriage that does not involve holding out and is generally
long-term.
Distinguishing between private carriage and common carriage involves much
ambiguity. The FAA has determined that pilots with 18-24 contracts have been
holding out and acting as an air carrier, and meanwhile have upheld an operator
as conducting private carriage with 3 contracts. That’s a large spread, folks.
AC 120-12A states “persons intending to conduct only private operations in
support of other business should look cautiously at any proposal for revenue
generating ights which most likely would require certi cation as an air carrier.”
In other words, be very careful.
Fractional Ownership
Fractional ownership organizations appear from the outside to be similar to Part
135 operations, except that customers are partial owners of the aircraft and thus
the operation does not engage in common carriage. This type of operation is
governed by 14 CFR Part 91 Subpart K, which speci cally prohibits fractional
owners from carrying persons or property for compensation or hire.
Subpart K organizations use shared ownership, an exchange of dry leases, and
a management company to allow customers to functionally purchase part of a
eet, which provides them exibility.
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COMMERCIAL PILOT PRIVILEGES & LIMITATIONS VERSION 2 REVISED 8/10/23
The largest fractional companies include NetJets and FlexJet. Many large
fractional organizations also maintain air carrier certi cates for when operations
need to be conducted on non-program aircraft.
Holding Out
Holding out is a vague term for a pilot implying a willingness to serve a segment
of the general public. Examples of holding out include signs, advertising,
operating on behalf of an organization if membership/participation is available to
a signi cant segment of the public, or even just having a reputation to serve all.
What New Commercial Pilots Can Do
By now, you may be wondering what exactly a new commercial pilot can do
other than ying for a business with an air carrier certi cate. The good news is
that there are several opportunities for low-time commercial pilots, which are
well-de ned in 14 CFR §119.1(e). Below is a simpli ed summary of the
operations listed, but be aware that many include additional stipulations, such
as distance from the departure airport and the size of aircraft involved. Those
listed in bold are the most common low-time time-building jobs for new
commercial pilots. For speci cs refer to 14 CFR §119.1(e). We’ll also note that
you can advertise your willingness to perform these services because they do
not involve the transportation (as in, from place to place) of persons or property
for hire.
1. Student instruction
2. Non-stop air tours
3. Ferry or training ights
4. Aerial work like crop dusting, banner towing, and pipeline patrol
5. Sightseeing ights in hot air balloons
6. Flying skydivers
7. Certain local helicopter ights
8. Helicopter operations under Part 33 (External Load Operations)
9. Emergency mail service
10. Operations under §91.321 (Carriage of Candidates in Elections)
11. Small UAS operations under Part 107
What This Means for a New Commercial Pilot
Operationally, all of this means a few things for a new commercial pilot.
1. While you can be hired as a pilot under Part 61, you cannot function as an air
carrier, and you cannot conduct common carriage operations without an air
carrier certi cate.
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COMMERCIAL PILOT PRIVILEGES & LIMITATIONS VERSION 2 REVISED 8/10/23
2. You can go work for air carriers when you are legally eligible and they hire
you.
3. There is a lot of gray area surrounding whether or not a speci c operation is
engaging in common carriage and thus requires an air carrier certi cate.
When presented with ambiguity, play it safe and either obtain legal
clari cation or do not conduct the operation.
4. There are speci c commercial operations that are explicitly permitted and
are typical time-building jobs like ight instructing or aerial survey.
14 CFR Part 119 Summary
§119.1(a) — De nes what kinds of operations fall under Part 119, stating that it
applies to all persons operating or intending to operate:
1. As an air carrier or commercial operator (common carriage)
2. Private carriage with seat con guration of 20 or more passengers or max
payload capacity of 6,000lbs or more
§119.1(d) —Exempts fractional ownership operations under Part 91 Subpart K,
so long as common carriage is not involved.
§119.1(e) — De nes operations exempt from Part 119, excepting §119.1(a)(2):
1. Student instruction
2. Nonstop air tours meeting certain requirements.
i. Con guration of 30 seats or fewer
ii. Maximum payload capacity of 7,500lbs or less
iii. Start and end at the same airport
iv. Conducted within a 25-statute mile radius of the departure airport
v. Comply with the Letter of Authorization (LOA) of §91.147
3. Ferry or training ights
4. Aerial work operations, including:
1. Crop dusting, seeding, spraying and bird chasing
2. Banner towing
3. Aerial photography or survey
4. Fire ghting
5. Helicopter operations in construction or repair work
6. Powerline or pipeline patrol
5. Sightseeing ights in hot air balloons
6. Nonstop ights within 25-statute mile radius of the airport for intentional
parachute operations
7. Helicopter ights in a 25-statute mile radius if:
1. No more than 2 passengers carried
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COMMERCIAL PILOT PRIVILEGES & LIMITATIONS VERSION 2 REVISED 8/10/23
2. Day VFR
3. 100 inspection requirement is met
4. Operator noti es Flight Standards o ce at least 72 hours in advance
5. No more than 6 ights per year
6. Approved by the administrator (FAA)
7. No cargo
8. Operations under Part 133 (Rotorcraft External Load Operations)
9. Emergency mail service
10. Operations under §91.321 (Carriage of Candidates in Elections)
11. Small UAS operations under Part 107
§119.5 - Overview of Air Carrier requirements
§119.7 - Requirement for air carriers to publish Operations Speci cations which
establish:
1. Authorizations, limitations, and procedures used for each kind of operation
2. Procedures under which each class and size of aircraft is to be used
§119.8 - Air Carriers must use a Safety Management System (SMS)
The rest of the stu in Part 119 is all about more speci c requirements for Air
Carriers. And, obviously if you are working for a Part 121 or 135 operator, there
will be further regulations under 14 CFR Parts 121 (Airlines) or 135 (Charter)
operations.
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