[Wizman]

Thanks, Denny. I've also written to Regional Counsel for guidance. I did some more research, and found that John Lynch of AFS-800 wrote some "interpretation" of this issue in Question 633 of his current Part 61 FAQ document. He says that any sort of "reimbursement" constitutes "compensation."

However, Ron Levy of the University of Maryland and I disagree with this interpretation, and hope to get some clarification. Compensation in the legal sense usually involves a "quid pro quo" arrangement between the two parties... you give me something, I give you something back. That's compensation.

If you gift me something, and then I gift it to somebody else, I was not compensated. It was a transfer of a gift. If my mother in law says "here's $100 bucks--go fly!", that's not compensation. If my FBO says "we'll let you take one of our planes for 3 hours each month free of charge for use on Angel Flights", that should not be "compensation" either. They've donated time to me for use for a charity, and I am donating that time to the charity, not for my own personal use. I further donate my time. The FBO gets nothing back from me, so there is no legal "quid pro quo", thus, no compensation.

The same should therefore apply to any discount or free fuel I might receive, even as a private pilot, that I then "donate" to a charitable cause.

I know that the FAA has said before that the "flying time" I receive would be compensation, but that doesn't match the legal definition of "compensation" as a quid pro quo arrangement.

I'm interested to hear what your "round table" discussion might reveal, as it will likely take some time to get a legal opinion from the regional counsel.

Troy Whistman