AOPA Access

I'm a private pilot and travel quite a bit for my job. How can I convince my company to allow me to fly a general aviation aircraft on some trips?

The secret word is productivity. An Albany, New York, member reported, "I live five minutes from the airport and can go to Buffalo for about $320 in my Skylane, versus $544 by commuter air. I can also see two or three more clients a day without extra car rental costs."

Yet many companies flatly prohibit business flights by employees in owned or rented airplanes. The most common objections to GA business flying include:

• Time-wasting, missed appointments.
• Cost and taxes.
• Safety.
• Company liability and insurance.

GA Reliability

Without exception, members successful in getting company permission to fly for business were instrument-rated. Even so, a "Plan B" is always necessary (see " Measure of Skill: Having an Out — and Using It," p. 45). "I can't say every trip is better in my airplane," wrote a member from the Midwest. "Once I ran into icing over Nebraska and had to rent a car for the remaining 200 miles."

In making a pitch for permission to fly your own trips, explain simply and honestly your contingency plans should weather or mechanical malfunctions delay you.

Cost

Consider a sample three-person trip from AOPA's home base in Frederick, Maryland, to White Plains, New York (below). Your group has several appointments, starting at 9 a.m. and concluding around 7 p.m. Round-trip driving time is about 10 hours, and the earliest airline service arrives at 10 a.m.

Taxes

If your company doesn't reimburse all of your flight expenses, you may be able to deduct a portion of them from your taxes. Specific questions are best left to your CPA, but AOPA's Guide to Income Tax can give you the background.

Safety

According to the AOPA Air Safety Foundation's Nall Report, 1996 was a record-setting safe year for general aviation. And of the three most common types of GA operations (personal, instructional, and business), business flying was the safest. Business flyers in 1996 accounted for 14.9 percent of all flight operations but only 4.3 percent of the total accidents.

The entire Nall report is available to AOPA members for $2 from the Air Safety Foundation; it is also on the AOPA Web site.

Company Liability and Insurance

Any time an employee flies on business, there is potential liability for the company. Some business comprehensive general liability insurance policies do not cover an employee piloting an aircraft for business. Other policies provide liability coverage, but the company may require higher limits of liability on the pilot's own policy, as well as naming the company as an additional insured.

Find out what your company's policy covers, call your own insurance company, and get AOPA's Guide to Insurance available in hardcopy or on AOPA's Web site.

Giving It a Try

AOPA has a Business Justification information packet available. It's free — another AOPA member service.

AOPA Aviation Information Resources

AOPA Pilot Information Center for expert help and advice for pilots, from pilots, 800/USA-AOPA (800/872-2672).

AOPA Online on the World Wide Web (www.aopa.org) offers many of the information publications from AOPA and the Air Safety Foundation.

AOPA and Air Safety Foundation booklets are available, some free, some for a nominal shipping and handling charge, by calling 800/USA-AOPA (800/872-2672).

AOPA Aviation Specialist Rob Rottman, 28, joined AOPA in March. He is an aviation management honors graduate from the Florida Institute of Technology, and is a 500-hour private pilot with an instrument rating. He is working on his commercial certificate and multiengine rating.

One of AOPA's premier member benefits is the team of dedicated pilots and instructors who interact one-on-one with members. Together, they own 11 aircraft and have more than 53,000 hours accumulated over 321 years in aviation. Any member can reach the specialists by calling 800/USA-AOPA (872-2672), or through AOPA's World Wide Web site (www.aopa.org).