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Common Carriage, Private Carriage, and “Holding Out”: The Pay Trap Every Commercial Pilot Should Understand

If you’re a commercial pilot (or training to be one), the most dangerous misunderstanding around “getting paid to fly” isn’t about your certificate. It’s about what kind of carriage your flight becomes the moment you start offering it to others.


In FAA-speak, the big three concepts are:

  • Common carriage (the classic “air taxi/charter” problem)

  • Private carriage (often called “contract carriage” in casual pilot talk)

  • Holding out (the trigger that turns “some flying” into “common carriage” fast)


Get these wrong, and you can stumble into illegal charter even with a perfectly valid commercial certificate.



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The core concept: “Carriage” is about selling transportation

Before we define the terms, here’s the pilot-friendly framing:

  • If you’re selling transportation (taking people from A to B for money/value), the FAA cares a lot about how you’re offering it, to whom, and under what authority.

  • A commercial certificate may make you eligible to be paid as a pilot, but it doesn’t automatically make your operation legal to sell rides.


That’s where common carriage/private carriage/holding out come in.


Common carriage: the “I’ll take you places if you pay me” category

A standard way to think about common carriage is that it’s transportation that’s broadly offered—what most pilots associate with charter/air taxi/airlines.


Common carriage is commonly explained using four elements. If you have all of these, you’re in common carriage territory:

  1. A willingness to provide the service (often shown through holding out)

  2. Transporting persons or property

  3. From place to place

  4. For compensation


When all four elements stack up, the question becomes less “Can I accept money as a commercial pilot?” and more “Is this operation set up under the proper rules and authority to sell transportation?”


Pilot examples that can look like common carriage

  • “I’ll fly you to the beach this weekend for $500.”

  • “We can take your group to a game next month.”

  • “We do on-demand flights anywhere in the region.”


Even if you avoid the words “charter” or “air taxi,” the substance is what matters.


Holding out: the accelerant that turns “a flight” into “a service”

Holding out is the concept that triggers common carriage faster than anything else.


Holding out is essentially communicating (directly or indirectly) that you’re available to transport people for compensation. It’s less about your intentions and more about the impression created: Are you making transportation available to the public or a broad segment of it?


What holding out can look like in real life

  • Advertising: website, flyers, business cards, paid ads

  • Social media: “DM me for flights,” “booking now,” “limited seats”

  • Word-of-mouth reputation: becoming known as “the pilot who will fly anyone”

  • Using someone else as a salesperson: a broker, “scheduler,” or friend lining up passengers

  • “Members-only” clubs: if membership is basically open to anyone who pays, it can still look like you’re offering to a broad segment of the public


Here’s the key: You don’t need a billboard to be holding out. If your messaging or structure effectively says “we’ll fly you places if you pay,” you’re in that zone.


Private carriage: compensation without holding out (but still not a free-for-all)

Private carriage is often described as transportation for compensation without holding out. Think: you’re not offering transportation broadly; instead, you’re serving a limited, selected set of customers.


Private carriage typically has these characteristics:

  • A small number of specific customers

  • Often repeat relationships (not one-off random passengers)

  • Frequently under specific arrangements rather than open public availability


Why private carriage still requires caution

Even if you’re not “holding out,” you can still wind up with:

  • A setup that looks like public availability because you have too many “customers”

  • An arrangement that effectively becomes “anyone who asks”

  • An operation that still triggers regulatory requirements depending on aircraft, mission, and structure


Pilot translation: “Not common carriage” doesn’t automatically mean “no rules.” It just means you’re not obviously in the “offered to the public” bucket.


How compensation ties into all of this

Commercial pilots focus on the word compensation, but in this context, the real trap is how compensation combines with transportation and holding out.


A few reminders pilots sometimes miss:

1) Compensation isn’t just cash

Anything of value can matter: reimbursement, gift cards, free services, discounts, lodging, “business goodwill,” etc.


2) “From place to place” is a bright line

Aerial work (photo, survey, patrol) is not the same as selling transportation. The closer the mission is to “take people somewhere,” the more you need to think about carriage.


3) Holding out is what turns “a limited arrangement” into “public service”

Even a legal-looking scenario can tip into common carriage if you start offering it broadly or publicly.


Pilot scenarios and where they often land

“I posted scenic flights on Instagram”

That’s a classic holding-out signal. If you’re offering flights to the public (or a broad group), and money/value is involved, you’re building the common-carriage picture.


“I only fly ‘members’”

If membership is effectively open to anyone who pays, regulators may still see “availability to a segment of the public.” The membership label alone doesn’t guarantee you avoided holding out.


“I have a few regular business clients”

This can resemble private carriage if it’s truly limited and not offered broadly. But grow that list, market it, or make it “available,” and you drift toward holding out.


“No ads—just referrals”

Referrals can still create a public-service reputation. If it becomes “we’ll fly anyone who asks,” the lack of advertising doesn’t magically remove holding out.


A cockpit-style gut check before you take money

Ask yourself:

  • Am I selling transportation (taking people from A to B)?

  • Have I (or someone on my behalf) communicated that I’m available to do this for others?

  • Is this limited to a truly small, selected group—or does it look like “anyone can book”?

  • Would a reasonable person interpret this as a transportation service?


If you get uneasy reading those questions, that’s your cue to slow down and get qualified guidance before you fly.


Bottom line

  • Common carriage is what you’re closest to when you’re offering paid transportation broadly.

  • Holding out is the big trigger—ads, social media, “memberships,” brokers, even reputation.

  • Private carriage can involve compensation without holding out, but it must be truly limited and carefully structured.



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