Can private pilots carry passengers?
Yes. Carrying passengers is one of the core privileges of a private pilot certificate. You can fly friends and family right after you earn it, and you can even split certain flight costs with them.
Once you hold a private pilot certificate, you can carry passengers day or night. You may share operating expenses (fuel, oil, rental, airport fees) with your passengers on a pro-rata basis, but you cannot profit from the flight.
To carry passengers at night, you’ll need to have completed specific night training, which is part of standard private pilot instruction.
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Thinking About Flying as a Career?
The private pilot certificate is the first step toward the flight deck. But if you’re thinking about a career as a pilot you’ll need more then that. Zero Time to Airline is a structured program that takes you from no experience all the way to airline-qualified, with every certificate and rating along the way.