Piotr_Szut wrote:
No: official definition below (Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 article 2)
The new Basic Regulation does not use the term “commercial operation” but rather “commercial air transport”. Not all implementing rules have been updated to reflect this (and there is a grace period of several years). As far as I understand, the Flight Crew regulation has been updated but not the Air Ops regulation. But I admit I’m not at all certain about this.
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Thanks for the replies. I have tried to summarise the general consensus below.
It would seem that Commercial Air Transport isn’t possible after 60 (single pilot) or 65 (multi-pilot), defined as where public fare-paying passengers are being carried. You could still fly an Airbus or Boeing if you were qualified to do so, eg for ferrying to maintenance or with freight onboard., although I suspect airlines would have retired you by then.
That leaves anything in Part NCO and Part NCC (Non-Commercial Operations for Non-Complex aircraft and Complex aircraft – such as over 5.7 tonnes, executive Jet, King Air, Pilatus etc). So flying an aircraft owner and his invited non-paying passengers would be OK. Where it gets a bit of a grey area might be if you are asked to fly a friend/colleague of the owner independently.
There is also no age limit for activities in Part SPO (Specialised Operations) which covers most activities previously known as Aerial Work.
‘Specialised Operations’ means any operation other than commercial air transport where the aircraft is used for specialised activities such as:
An organisation operating Commercial Air Transport must have an AOC (Air Operator Certificate) from their local CAA, but this is not required for any of the other commercial activities above. See this link from the UK CAA
