Hello All,

So I was talking to my flight instructor today and we were going through the ground items for the CPL test. One of the things we looked at was the requirments for an AOC.

I raised the question though, what is stopping you from operating as a commercial pilot without operating under an AOC?
For example, what is stopping me from hiring an aircraft from someone (assume it is in the charter category on the MR) and carrying out a charter charging the customer for the rent & my services. As far as I can tell the only regulation that points towards requiring you to obtain an AOC is CAR 210.

Just something interesting which has got us all stumped.
Cheers.

Hi SAM,

This might be of interest to you:

Who needs an AOC:
www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_100929

Straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Here's a list of AOc related resources at CASA:

Applying for an AOC:
www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_90333

My feelings are this refers to CAR 206 where commercial purpose is described and CAR 207 (1) which states you can't use an aircraft in a class of operations for which it has not been approved. An AOC is a formal CASA approval for particular operations.

If you really want to get down and dirty, try trawling through Division 2 of the Civil Aviation Act as well. CASA's guides for operators on those links above are much more informative though.

I have a headache now from all this legalese...

Cheers,

Rich

Hi,

I have a related question:

Say I own a computer repair business and I invest in an aircraft to better service my rural customers. Under CAR 2(7) I can fly out to customers as a Private Operation in order to make repairs to computer systems, even if I charge for repairs.

CAR 2.7.D(v) the carriage of persons or the carriage of goods without a charge for the carriage being made other than the carriage for the purposes of trade, of goods being the property of the pilot, the owner or the hirer of the aircraft

However, if I also take parts with me (for which I will charge to my customer), or even just deliver the odd part, does it become airwork under CAR206?

Thanks

I believe as you do not charge for the carriage of parts it would still be okay. The way it was explained to me is, if you're flying for reward it is commercial ops. So if you charge your client a transport fee to carry the goods to them, or they ask you for a quote to express fly some parts to them, then it would be a commercial op. In your case, you're using the aircraft as your personal transport to get to your client. Like all of the regs, there can be some grey areas.