Ride Raffle

[Cod Father]

So a buddy of mine wants to raffle off a flight in his aircraft for charity.
He is a private pilot. His aircraft is private.

Is this doable? Or would he have to be a commercial pilot or would his aircraft have to be commercially registered, or both?

[Schooner69A]

I have no experience with a pilot raffling off a ride as a charity benefit, but I have heard of the charity raffling off the same ride. The pilot is volunteering his time and aircraft. Someone may have a legal opinion on this.

John

[ahramin]

I wouldn't get advice for something like this on a forum. Call TC.

[esp803]

When I was attending Selkirk (RIP), we wanted to raffle off a sight seeing flight to raise money for the college graduation. It never panned out for a variety of reasons. I'd ask TC, the lotteries commission of your province and also your insurance provider. If all say yes, get it in writing and send all the written responses to lawyer. Once the lawyer okays it, get him to draft an acceptance of risk contract (for the life of me, I can't remember the proper name).

I don't think you will make it through the first part. Remember, regardless of how good he intentions were, the courts will follow the law, and that is A LOT of liability placed on the driver.

Good luck.

E

[fleet16b]

I have donated a ride every year for over ten years now.
And with TC present when I did
I get the passenger to sign a waiver . It may or may not stand up in court but its better than nothing

[vanNostrum]

Some years ago I use to donated rides to raise funds for summer camp at my daughters school ,had the pax sign a waiver ,never had any problems

[CpnCrunch]

It's perfectly legal, and you can even get paid for your expenses if it's a charity or non-profit.

http://www.copanational.org/AbtAirplanesAndMoney.cfm

It sounds like TC has succeeded in making flying safe by making everyone too afraid to fly

Having said that, I have to admit that I don't generally take up passengers any more unless they are pilots, as I'm concerned about a lawsuit in the event of an accident. As fleet16b points out, a waiver is probably a good idea. They have been tested in court (at least in the USA, as far as I remember). Obviously if you're negligent (like the guy who killed his passenger by low flying and hitting a wire) then no waiver will protect you.

[JBI]

Having said that, I have to admit that I don't generally take up passengers any more unless they are pilots, as I'm concerned about a lawsuit in the event of an accident. As fleet16b points out, a waiver is probably a good idea. They have been tested in court (at least in the USA, as far as I remember). Obviously if you're negligent (like the guy who killed his passenger by low flying and hitting a wire) then no waiver will protect you.

This is not quite correct. The first thing you should be doing is checking what your third party liability limits are on your insurance policy. See the following article on considerations with respect to your policy limits http://skiesmag.com/news/article/SettingLimits and have a chat with your broker about what is sufficient for your particular operation. If your passenger is injured in an accident, whether he or she is a pilot or not (and if any property was damaged on the ground), there will likely be a lawsuit. That is what your third party liability policy is for. It's not a personal thing - you have taken out insurance to protect both yourself and your injured passenger in the case of an accident. Most, if not all, policies provide that your insurer has a duty to defend.

A waiver may or may not be applicable depending on the circumstances of the flight, the parties, the accident, the expectations of the parties and the wording of any waiver. In addition, it could be found that such a waiver was contrary to public policy and therefore not applicable.

If an aircraft has an accident, it is likely that at least one party is negligent (pilot, manufacturer, maintenance etc.) - simply put, airplanes are not supposed to crash. It is also important to note that negligence does not have any moral implication of acting inappropriately. In the situation where a pilot was recklessly flying low, it may be that they were grossly negligent, which is a slightly different legal implication and depending on the wording of a waiver, may not be covered.

With regard to the original post, it sounds like a raffle is a slightly different situation than providing a flight for Hope Air. I think the spirit of the regulation would not prevent such a flight, however, it is best to contact Transport Canada to be sure if you have concerns on the regulatory side of things. From the insurance liability side of things, it would depend on your specific insurance policy on the aircraft and the uses that have been declared to your insurer.

Clear as mud, right?