Peter Clark wrote in message . ..

I thought I had read somewhere that someone got ding'd for doing
something like this because they logged time and that was considered
compensation (IIRC it was something like airplane needed to go
somewhere for an oil change or something, they said "sure i'll do
that", ferried the airplane to the shop, hung around for food while
the oil change was done, flew it back, and even though they didn't get
paid cash, logging time for it was considered compensation)?

The only pilot I've heard dinged for accepting flight time for
compensation was a guy hauling skydivers for no pay, in someone else's
aircraft. Basically, he was time-building by logging hours in his
logbook that he would have otherwise had to pay for by renting an
aircraft. He was also conducting a commercial operation at the time,
but that's a seperate issue.

In this case, Mark owns his own aircraft (see original post). If
Mark pays for the costs of the flight, who is compensating him with
flight time? The answer is no one. If you pay for the entire cost
of the flight, you have a much greater latitude on the types of
flights you can make.

If my brother needs a ride to an airport 200 miles away (for
whatever reason), he just calls me, we hop in my plane and I drop him
off. No problem. Now if I want to share any of the costs of that
flight, the FAA man would definitely be interested. I had no reason
to fly to that airport other than to drop off my bro. If I want to
start collecting money for that sort of thing, I begin to look a lot
like a Part 135 air taxi, rather than a private pilot. Same flight,
with the only difference being that money (compensation) changed
hands. Where private vs. commercial flying is concerned, the FAA has
spelled out pretty clearly what the exceptions are in the regs
(although IMHO, there are still some fuzzy areas).

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)