I got an email from someone who read it on my website under the G-reg to N-reg transfer notes.
This guy says:
Is this right?
In the past, the passage of any money or valuable consideration made a flight Aerial Work. The CAA then published a list of exceptions to that, summarised in a leaflet called Summary of Public Transport, most recently published as Notice 2014093 This exception list applied only to G-reg. So even in a D-reg cost sharing would not be allowed.
I was under the impression that it is primarily the FAA rules that prohibit cost sharing. Is that not the case, or do they not apply outside of US airspace? Could you give the reference to the FAR that you refer to as “Even though the FAA does have such a scheme”?
That rings a bell, thanks.
Peter wrote:
The FAA allows cost sharing but it involves the common purpose rule. Various past threads; a search oncommon purpose
digs them out e.g. here
Not only the common purpose, but they also do not allow any advertising of cost sharing flights (holding out). Look for example here.
Art 250 is essentially unmodified:
Restriction on carriage, where valuable consideration is given or promised, in aircraft registered elsewhere than in the United Kingdom
250.—(1) Unless paragraph (2) or (6) applies, an aircraft registered elsewhere than in the United Kingdom must not take on board or discharge any passengers or cargo in the United Kingdom where valuable consideration is given or promised for the carriage of such persons or cargo.
(2) [a foreign airline with the permission of the UK government]
(6) [a licensed EU air carrier]
As far as I can see, that makes cost sharing in foreign-registered aircraft as illegal as it has always been.
bookworm wrote:
As far as I can see, that makes cost sharing in foreign-registered aircraft as illegal as it has always been.
Do you include EU-registered as well when you write foreign-registered? I thought that aside from Annex II machines, cost sharing was dealt with at the EU level. I would expect for all registrations to be on the same level (it should make no difference whether you share a flight in a D-reg or a G-reg).
PS: Peter, there is a newer version of that notice: IN-2015/029.
Many thanks Martin. There is a lot of new stuff in there to reflect the EASA cost sharing stuff. This is also interesting
I was going to say that about 10 years ago a well known UK GA scene personality (no longer flying, I believe) posted that he had a letter from the CAA saying that the Aerial Work exemption (bookworm’s post #6 above) applied not just to G-regs but all EU-regs. Well, the law doesn’t say that 
But the latest IN-2015/029 does extend cost sharing (if nothing else) to EASA member states.
But what is an EASA member state?
bookworm wrote:
As far as I can see, that makes cost sharing in foreign-registered aircraft as illegal as it has always been.
In theory maybe. But when I watch the accident of that Metroliner in Malta last week, I get serious doubts about rules and regulations in general. This aircraft was N registered, commercially operated by a company in Luxembourg who flew covert missions for some French service which officially does not even exist. If they get away with it, why would anyone care the least about rules no one really understands?
I don’t think you should have doubts about rules by looking at secret ops. It’s completely unsurprising they break them. Maybe they even need to break them to stay secret.
