So, you have an aircraft (or are renting one) and want to help a political candidate fly to some meetings, rallies, parades, or any other type of event in furtherance of their election efforts. There are some rules here that few pilots ever think about, but should if they are going to do this type of flying.
Now, before you think this is going to be some sort of political piece, it isn’t. I don’t care what party or for whom you may want to provide some help. As a pilot who used to work with political campaigns many years ago, I got introduced to the concepts of campaign contributions, whether direct financial ones, or in other forms of help. When an individual (or any committee, corporate interest, etc.) helps a candidate, there are some restrictions that must be adhered to for compliance to be maintained. These are set forth at the federal level by the Federal Election Commission.
But I am getting ahead of myself slightly. Let’s talk about some FAA regulations first.
14 CFR §91.321 is a specific regulation that allows an aircraft operator to “receive payment for carrying a candidate, agent or a candidate, or person traveling on behalf of a candidate, running for Federal, State, or local election, without having to comply with the rules of parts 121, 125 or 135”. There are some conditions though. It can’t be “your primary business” as an air carrier or commercial operator, you must carry the passenger “under the rules of part 91”, and, most importantly, you are “required to receive payment” for carrying the passenger in accordance with the appropriate Federal, State, or local guidelines and are not able to exceed the amount required under the applicable federal, state or local law. Continue reading