This isn't as far fetched as it might seem. Most aircraft I take care of are flown less than 50 hours a year and the owners are money-rich, time-poor professionals that can't fly that often.
I used to just fly for fuel costs since it was quite cheaper than renting. Here, I get paid quite well to fly a private aircraft by a fairly well-off gentleman.
LegoMan wrote:Doubt it, the guy is probably not interested in the risk of having his plane do a swan-dive into the ground. Not to mention, just like a car, the more time you put on it, the more it depreciates. You are using the cycles, engine life and bringing him closer to an inspection. If a company that employs pilots and has insurance wont trust you, why should the rich guy?
Legoman's arguments are terribly uninformed. Planes do not depreciate like cars (probably the worst 'investment' ever) and for the most part, private aircraft are not held to the same inspection cycles as commercial aircraft. You need to do an annual every year regardless of how many hours you fly and TBO take a long time to run off and isn't binding for private aircraft.
The fact that the aircraft is being used and the engine and wheel bearings are not sitting and rusting adds value to the aircraft. Control cables, pulleys, tires, and brakes degrade just as fast on the ground as in the air. I just brought a 172 that didn't fly for three years back to life and it had a stuck valve (jug wound up being completely screwed) and five other jugs that functioned all right but looked like the first one. Just the parts were 8 or 9000$, never mind the time spend to tear it apart and put it back together again, plus all the other things that were wrong with the plane.
So what do you need to do? First, the aircraft needs a current annual inspection, as per CAR 625 Appendix B and C. Of course it also needs a current AAIR if the owner has not done one or has declared the aircraft out of service. If the plane has been sitting for a while, an annual might be very expensive, especially if there is outstanding defects or a prop has come due for overhaul. An owner might not be so happy about spending all this money for somebody else to fly their plane, and this is the reason why so many sit and rot.
Second, you need insurance. You can get personal insurance from COPA that lets you be insured for any aircraft you fly, but the aircraft needs liability insurance as well. It's a good idea to have hull coverage too just in case you damage the aircraft (anything can happen). Generally what I do is get put on the owner's insurance. The amount of hours you have combined with the type of aircraft might require you to get training or a checkout, and this can get complicated. But I have had no problems being a current CPL with lots of high performance hours and I am also under our company's shopkeeper insurance.
Then, of course, you need to make an arrangement. Some owners think they are doing you a big favor and charge almost what a rental is worth. This makes things complicated and unnecessarily expensive. An easy agreement is for you to cover the fuel and oil while they provide the rest, as it is a sort of self-governing 'pay-as-you-go' arrangement. Another one might be for you to cover fuel and an overhaul reserve or maintenance reserve (25-50$/hr for a light aircraft is typical). A general agreement on how many hours you fly should be in place.
It's not the easiest thing to do. I have a rapport with owners since I am the mechanic who takes care of their aircraft. You also have to consider that you are leaving the safe confines of oversight under a school or company to widely different aircraft, standards of maintenance, and required training.
