A commercial pilot certificate is the one that lets you be paid to fly. What surprises most new commercial pilots is how much it does not let them do on their own: it qualifies the pilot, not the business. Whether a paid flight is legal depends on who is paying, what they are paying for, and whether an operator with the right FAA certificate is in charge. Below are the privileges, the limits, and the common-carriage and holding-out rules that catch pilots out.
Quick Answer: Under 14 CFR 61.133, a commercial pilot may act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying persons or property for compensation or hire, and may fly for compensation or hire, as long as they are qualified under the rules for that particular operation. What the certificate does not do is authorize you to sell flights to the public; that is common carriage and needs an operator's Part 119 certificate. Without an instrument rating, you also may not carry passengers for hire at night or on cross-country flights of more than 50 nautical miles.
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What The Certificate Allows
The privilege in 61.133(a) is broad: you may be paid to fly, and you may act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying people or cargo for hire. The condition attached to it, "qualified in accordance with this part and with the applicable parts of this chapter that apply to the operation", is what sends you to the other rulebooks. In practice, the jobs a new commercial pilot can take at around 250 hours fall into a few groups:
- Aerial work. Banner towing, aerial photography and survey, pipeline and powerline patrol and firefighting are listed in 14 CFR 119.1(e)(4) as operations outside the air carrier rules, so the pilot is paid and the flight is conducted under Part 91. Towing a banner also needs the operator's certificate of waiver under 91.311.
- Ferry and repositioning flights. Also excepted by 119.1(e)(3): moving an airplane for an owner, a dealer or a maintenance shop.
- Flying someone else's airplane for them. An owner or a company hires you to fly its own aircraft, carrying its own people, with no one buying a ticket.
- Jump flying and tours for an authorized operator. Nonstop parachute flights within 25 statute miles are excepted by 119.1(e)(6), and short nonstop air tours are flown for an operator holding a Letter of Authorization under 91.147.
- Charter and airline work once you meet the hour minimums, as an employee of a certificate holder: 500 hours for a Part 135 VFR captain and an airline transport pilot certificate for Part 121, as set out in commercial pilot versus airline pilot; the three rulebooks are compared in Part 91 vs 135 vs 121.
The most common first job, flight instruction, is not on that list for a reason: it needs a separate flight instructor certificate. 14 CFR 61.3(d)(2) reserves training toward a certificate, endorsements and logbook sign-offs to certificated instructors. More on the job market is on what a commercial pilot does and time-building jobs for commercial pilots.
What It Does Not Allow
A commercial pilot alone cannot run a charter business. 14 CFR 119.5(g) says no person may operate as a direct air carrier or commercial operator without the appropriate certificate and operations specifications, and 119.5(j) forbids advertising or offering such an operation without FAA authorization. The FAA's own safe-charter guidance puts it plainly: pilots flying charter must be employed by the certificate holder that has operational control of the flight, for example a Part 135 operator.
Calling it private carriage does not solve the problem either. Under 14 CFR 119.23(b), private carriage for compensation in airplanes with fewer than 20 passenger seats and under 6,000 pounds of payload must still be conducted under Part 135 rules with operations specifications. And to use any commercial privilege in an airplane you need at least a second-class medical certificate under 61.23(a)(2).
Common Carriage Vs Private Carriage
The FAA's guidance on this is Advisory Circular 120-12A, still active. It lists four elements of common carriage: (1) a holding out of a willingness to (2) transport persons or property (3) from place to place (4) for compensation. All four present means an air carrier certificate is required. Private carriage for hire, by contrast, is "carriage for one or several selected customers, generally on a long-term basis", and the number of contracts must not be so large that it implies a willingness to contract with anyone.
| Question | Common Carriage | Private Carriage For Hire |
|---|---|---|
| Who can buy the flight | Anyone who asks: the service is offered to the public | One or several selected customers |
| How the work is found | Advertising, agents, websites, reputation | Negotiated contracts, usually long-term |
| Examples from AC 120-12A | An operator with 18 to 24 contracts was held to be a common carrier | Three contracts as the sole basis of a business was found to be private carriage |
| Certificate needed (small airplanes) | Part 119 certificate, Part 135 or 121 | Still Part 135 rules and operations specifications under 119.23(b) |
| What a commercial pilot alone may do | Fly it only as an employee of the certificate holder | Fly it only for an operator authorized to conduct it |
Holding Out
Holding out is the element pilots underestimate, because it does not need a billboard. AC 120-12A says signs and advertising are the most direct means but not the only ones: agents or salespeople who find passengers count, and so does simply telling everyone you meet that you can and will fly them. The FAA's charter-safety guidance adds that advertising "in any form (word of mouth, website, reputation, etc.)" raises the question.
The clearest recent example is flight sharing. In December 2015 the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the FAA's view that pilots offering expense-shared flights through a website open to anyone who signed up were holding out. The court also noted that private pilots still keep the right to share expenses with passengers who share a common purpose, as long as they do not hold themselves out to the public.
Situations we see pilots get wrong:
- A social-media post offering seats "for gas money" to anyone who wants to go to Catalina.
- A business contact paying you to fly him and his clients in a rented airplane, because you hold a commercial certificate.
- An owner offering the airplane and a pilot as a package, dressed up as a dry lease. The FAA's safe-charter guidance names these sham leases specifically.
- An aerial photography job that turns into carrying the photographer's friends to a destination.
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The Night And Instrument Limitations
If you earn a commercial certificate with an airplane rating and do not already hold an instrument rating, 61.133(b)(1) puts a limitation on the certificate: the carriage of passengers for hire in airplanes on cross-country flights of more than 50 nautical miles, or at night, is prohibited. You can still fly for hire in daylight on short trips and do aerial work at night without passengers for hire, but the limitation stays until you add the instrument rating. In practice, almost every employer wants that rating anyway, and a Part 135 VFR captain in an airplane must hold one or an airline transport pilot certificate (135.243(b)). Our commercial pilot requirements page lists the 250 hours and the rest of 61.129.
Private Vs Commercial Privileges
| Question | Private Pilot | Commercial Pilot |
|---|---|---|
| Be paid to fly | No, with narrow exceptions (61.113) | Yes (61.133(a)) |
| Carry passengers or cargo for hire | No | Yes, within an operation authorized for it |
| Share costs with passengers | Must pay at least a pro rata share of fuel, oil, airport expenditures or rental fees (61.113(c)) | Same rule when the flight is not for hire |
| Fly for your own business | Only if the flight is incidental to the business and carries no passengers or property for hire (61.113(b)) | Yes, and you may be employed as the pilot |
| Give flight instruction | No; needs a flight instructor certificate | No; needs a flight instructor certificate |
| Medical | Third class, or BasicMed | Second class for commercial privileges |
| Minimum flight time | 40 hours (61.109) | 250 hours (61.129) |
The private side is covered in full on private pilot privileges and limitations. Our Commercial Pilot course at Van Nuys is $15,400, with complex and high-performance aircraft, the commercial maneuvers and checkride preparation, and up to 50 simulator hours creditable toward the 250, as the device's FAA letter of authorization allows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can A Commercial Pilot Be Paid For Photography Flights?
Yes. Aerial photography and survey are aerial work under 119.1(e)(4), outside the air carrier rules, so the pilot can be paid and the flight is flown under Part 91. The line to watch is carriage: if the flight becomes about taking people from one place to another for a fee, it is no longer aerial work.
Can I Tow Banners With A Commercial Certificate?
Yes, for an operator that holds a certificate of waiver for towing under 14 CFR 91.311. Banner work is listed as aerial work in 119.1(e)(4). Most banner operators also want a tailwheel endorsement and their own checkout.
Can I Be Paid To Ferry Airplanes?
Yes. Ferry flights are excepted from Part 119 by 119.1(e)(3). You still need the right category and class ratings, any required endorsements (complex, high-performance, tailwheel) and usually the owner's insurance approval.
Can A Commercial Pilot Give Flying Lessons?
Not in an airplane. Training toward a certificate, and the endorsements that go with it, require a flight instructor certificate under 61.3(d)(2). Under 61.183(c) the flight instructor certificate requires a commercial or airline transport pilot certificate first, plus an instrument rating for airplane instructors, which is why most new commercial pilots add it straight away.
Can I Fly A Friend's Business Airplane For Pay?
Usually, if the company owns or leases the airplane, controls the flights and flies its own people on its own business without charging them. It becomes a problem when you or the airplane are offered to other people for a fee.
Can A Commercial Pilot Share Costs With Passengers?
Yes, under the same rule as a private pilot: pay at least your pro rata share of fuel, oil, airport expenditures or rental fees, share a common purpose with your passengers, and do not advertise the seats. Holding a commercial certificate does not make an expense-shared flight into legal charter.
Do I Need A First-Class Medical As A Commercial Pilot?
No. A second-class medical is the minimum for commercial privileges under 61.23(a)(2). A first-class medical is needed to exercise pilot-in-command privileges of an airline transport pilot certificate, so career pilots often get one early to confirm they qualify.
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Sources: 14 CFR 61.3(d), 61.23, 61.109, 61.113, 61.129, 61.133 and 61.183(c); 14 CFR 91.147 and 91.311; 14 CFR 119.1(e), 119.5 and 119.23; 14 CFR 135.243; FAA Advisory Circular 120-12A, Private Carriage Versus Common Carriage Of Persons Or Property (active); FAA Safe Charter Operations guidance for pilots, owners and operators; FlyteNow, Inc. v. FAA (D.C. Cir., December 18, 2015), as published by the FAA.