The idea behind new ride share company AirLyft was inspired by the more well-known Uber and Lyft car services. CEO Dan Balda said while commuting to work from Ormond Beach to Melbourne the idea dawned on him.
"Why not fill up the rest of the seats in my four seat aircraft, because most of the time it's just myself," Balda said.
And the idea of carpooling the skies was born. The company said standing in its way are loosely written FAA regulations that require commercial certification in order to fly and charge passengers.
His company, he says, wants to be thought of much like Uber in that non-commercial private pilots are matched with people looking for a ride.
Even more, Balda said, the company will allow you to take a private charter (interstate distances) for about the same price as driving.
He said currently the FAA allows pilots to fly friends and family to share the cost when flying to a destination together. But it does not allow the passenger to pay the entire cost of the flight or even pay more than the pilot. Balda said he would like to see this rule more clearly defined and enable pilots to charge to carry passengers in the extra seats.
Tampa pilots say the company, like Uber and Lyft, seems to be attempting to skirt FAA oversight, which is extensive, costly and constant. They say without paying the extra fees, of course flights are cheaper.
Will Smith, a local commercial, private and instructing pilot, questions who will make sure planes are up to standard and who will conduct thorough medical checks of each pilot. His main concern is for the safety of passengers.
"How do you know who's flying you around? How do you know when the last maintenance check was done?" said Smith. "If you break down in a plane, you can't just pull to the side of the road."
Balda said every pilot will be background checked and insured through the company, however pilots will not be charging passengers until cleared by the FAA. Until then he says pilots will accept donations for the flight, of which one third will fund maintenance at their home airport, another third will go to lobby the FAA for regulation changes and a third to AirLyft.
The company plans to use the Tampa Bay area as its test region beginning Feb. 1.
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