FAA drops kibosh on 'planesharing' apps for private pilots

GTA plane
Unlike in Grand Theft Auto V, real-life pilots have to follow rules

Is there anything the Federal Aviation Administration hates more than commercial drones? Actually, "planesharing" apps might fit that bill.

A new crop of start-ups - including companies like AirPooler and Flytenow - proposed to make it easier for private plane operators to arrange to ferry users around in exchange for gas money. But the FAA has put the kibosh on those and similar services - even low-tech versions, says TechCrunch.

The Administration's decision is based on proposals and regulations from 1963 and 1964. Apparently amateur pilots could previously ask passengers privately to split costs with them, and they've been doing so by posting their schedules to airfield bulletin boards for decades.

But the FAA just made that illegal, along with the new apps that would have essentially served the same purpose, but on a much larger scale.

The Administration doesn't want passengers risking their lives with inexperienced pilots, but by putting its foot down it's also killed off an entire category of start-ups and made honest private pilots' lives a little bit more expensive.

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Michael Rougeau

Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.


Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.