Rent plane from another private pilot?

I'm about 15 flight hours along in flight training.
My buddy is about 30 hours along and rounding the bend.

He's going to buy a plane - just part of his overall goal.

So here's a question:

(Let's assume I get a my PPL and checkout in the plane
and everything is cool .. .)

If he owns a plane, can I rent from him?
Or is that considered "commercial" operations?

I would certainly want to get my own insurance.
And I'm sure he'd want to be covered appropriately.

Can anyone help on that matter?
Should we talk to AOPA?

Thanks!

Talking to the AOPA is always a wise decision. The key in this situation is
insurance. This can be a deal-killer. Your buddy's insurance coverage is
paramount, but it won't afford you much, if any, coverage. You need your own
policy, and the insurer should be told about the arrangement.

Bob Gardner

"GEG" wrote in message
...
I'm about 15 flight hours along in flight training.
My buddy is about 30 hours along and rounding the bend.

He's going to buy a plane - just part of his overall goal.

So here's a question:

(Let's assume I get a my PPL and checkout in the plane
and everything is cool .. .)

If he owns a plane, can I rent from him?
Or is that considered "commercial" operations?

I would certainly want to get my own insurance.
And I'm sure he'd want to be covered appropriately.

Can anyone help on that matter?
Should we talk to AOPA?

Thanks!

The problem with AOPA though is that they only represent one insurance
company. Different insurance underwriters work very differently in some
of these areas. I'd rather go to a good aviation insurance broker.

GEG wrote:

If he owns a plane, can I rent from him?
Or is that considered "commercial" operations?


It's all in the insurance. If you're really renting from him (i.e.
paying x $s per hour) the insurance company will likely want to sell
him a commercial policy, rather than the business/pleasure policy he
has now. Once they mention the price, that'll probably kill the deal.


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

Ask to be added to your friends insurance as a named insured and pay the
difference in the premium.

jsmith wrote:
Ask to be added to your friends insurance as a named insured and pay the
difference in the premium.

You can do that, but if the insurance company finds out he's actually
renting the plane from the owner, they probably wouldn't go for it on a
business/pleasure policy.

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

I would definitely give AOPA a call because, by RENTING the plane, the
owner has just likely turned into a business. By RENTING the plane, the
owner will now have to comply with the regs that FBO's use, including
100 hr inspections. This can be considered a grey area, but the call to
AOPA is free (so why not?). The (potential) cost of NOT calling AOPA is
very high for all involved.

Chris


John Galban wrote:

jsmith wrote:

Ask to be added to your friends insurance as a named insured and pay the
difference in the premium.


You can do that, but if the insurance company finds out he's actually
renting the plane from the owner, they probably wouldn't go for it on a
business/pleasure policy.

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

John Galban wrote:

You can do that, but if the insurance company finds out he's actually
renting the plane from the owner, they probably wouldn't go for it on a
business/pleasure policy.

what about buying a share? (would it have to be 50% or could the
friend get away with selling a smaller share?)

--Sylvain (just curious)

Sylvain wrote:


what about buying a share? (would it have to be 50% or could the
friend get away with selling a smaller share?)

Can't comment about whether it would have to be 50% or not, but if
both of them were co-owners, then they could get away with a standard
business/pleasure policy. The main problem the OP had was that he
specifically said he wanted to rent the plane. Rental immediately
sends the policy cost skyrocketing.

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

My policy specifically says that I cannot rent to named pilots. I guess
they consider "renting" to be commercial. However, more specific to the
original poster, he can buy his own fuel and even help out when it
comes time for maintenance. I think the word "renting" set off some
alarms within the newsgroup. However, if you actually talked to the
agent about specifically waht you want to do, I'd be it wouldn't really
be considered "renting".

Also, as a side note, do **not** be mis-lead by talks of "open pilot
clauses". All policies appear to prevent coverage when pilots flying
meet the open pilot requirements but have regular access to the plane.
Open pilot is really just for an occasional once-in-awhile thing. My
agent says that most insurance companies will not consider someone to
be "casual use" if they have their own keys. Going by your friends
house and gettnig the keys each time is probably the only way to be
considered "casual".

-Robert