| Illegal Charter?? |
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WHAT IS ILLEGAL CHARTER? Fundamentally, it is the carriage, by air, of persons or cargo for compensation, by any person or entity that does not hold a Federal Aviation Administration authorization or certificate to operate, under FAR 121 or FAR 135. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU? As the client or passenger on an aircraft that is being operated contrary to regulations, you have no assurance that training, maintenance and crew duty times are being enforced. Just as important, in the event of an accident or injury in all likelihood there will be no insurance coverage provided. This arises from the fact that most, if not all, aviation insurance policies specify the purposes for which coverage exist. Consequently, if an airplane is insured for personal use, or personal and business use and is being flown to generate revenue for the owner or operator (commercial purposes), there will be no coverage. It will not matter if you are named as an additional insured, have purchased “block time” or are engaged in any one of a number of ploys that are used to circumvent the rules. Neither the FAA nor the National Transportation Safety Board will take a hard look until after an accident occurs. The same can be said for the insurance company. They really don’t care what an airplane is being used for until a claim is filed. They may not take a hard look even then, unless it involves death or serious injury. When that happens, their legal staff will put everything under a microscope. You are subject to the risk of these uninsured events if you are a passenger, but there is another consideration that may be even more important. If you own or manage a business and arrange for and/or allow your employees to travel on an aircraft that is being operated contrary to the Federal Aviation Regulations and they are injured or killed, you will almost certainly be in jeopardy. For this reason, most large companies perform due diligence checks to make sure the aircraft and operator are authorized to perform the services that are being provided.
On February 4, 2009 criminal charges were filed against founders and officials of entities that were involved in operating an aircraft that crashed during departure from Teterboro Airport, February 2, 2005. The US Department of Transportation has pledged stepped up efforts to uncover these kinds of activities.
For more information concerning illegal charter: Risks of Illegal Charter Article, National Air Transportation Association (NATA) Operating Illegal Flight Department?-Business & Commercial Aviation Article, January 2009 |
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