The regulation to which I am referring in this regard is Section 91.409, "Inspections," and the two sub-parts of that regulation that typically apply to the kinds of recreational and training operations that we are talking about are subsections (a) and (b). In particular, section 91.409(a) requires that "No person may operate an aircraft unless, within the preceding 12 calendar months, it has had...(1) an annual inspection in accordance with Part 43 of this chapter and has been approved for return to service by a person authorized by Section 43.7 of this chapter."
Section 91.409(b) provides that "No person may operate an aircraft carrying any person (other than a crewmember) for hire, and no person may give flight instruction for hire in an aircraft which that person provides, unless within the preceding 100 hours of time in service the aircraft has received an annual or 100-hour inspection and been approved for return to service in accordance with Part 43 of this chapter."
Therefore, before you take that pleasure flight and before you depart on that training flight, you will need to make certain that the proper inspection is documented in the aircraft logbooks. There are exceptions to these requirements for an annual or 100-hour inspection. The exceptions apply to aircraft that carry a special flight permit, a current Experimental airworthiness certificate, or a provisional airworthiness certificate; to aircraft being maintained under a Part 121 or 135 maintenance program; and to aircraft subject to a progressive inspection program or a program selected for large aircraft, turbojet, or turbine-powered multiengine aircraft, and turbine-powered rotorcraft. These exceptions are unlikely to apply to your training aircraft.
Determining which inspection is required for the aircraft you are operating depends on the type of operation that you are planning to conduct.
If you are taking the aircraft on a pleasure flight, such as giving a ride to a friend or practicing S-turns over a road, where compensation or hire is not involved, then the regulations require that the aircraft must have had an annual inspection. That is, an inspection must have been conducted and documented, and the aircraft returned to service, within the preceding 12 calendar months of the date of the flight. So, if the flight is on November 15, the inspection must have been accomplished since November 1 of the previous year.
If you are operating the aircraft and carrying a person for hire and that person is not a crewmember, then the aircraft must have been inspected within the previous 100 hours of time in service. A crewmember is defined in Section 1.1 of the regulations as "a person assigned to perform duty in an aircraft during flight time." A flight instructor giving you flight instruction meets the definition of crew-member; therefore you can operate your own aircraft and pay a flight instructor to give you training, and your aircraft would not be required to have a 100-hour inspection, but it would be required to have an annual inspection. In the alternative, if you are the one providing flight instruction for hire and you are also providing the aircraft for that instruction, then a 100-hour inspection is required before the operation for hire may be conducted in that aircraft.
At the very least, an annual inspection is required of the aircraft we operate. For those of us operating the aircraft when payment for piloting or flight training services is provided, then the aircraft may need a 100-hour inspection, which generally occurs more often than once a year. And, as the person operating the aircraft, it is your responsibility to make sure before you take off that the proper inspection has been completed and documented.
Kathy Yodice is an attorney with Yodice Associates in Washington, D.C., which provides legal counsel to AOPA and administers AOPA's Legal Services Plan. She is an instrument-rated private pilot.
