If I go on vacation in a privately owned plane, and get picked up at a local airport, am I allowed to bring a firearm with me? It would be a friend and his airplane, not a charter.

As long as your friend doesn't care, it's private, far as I know, you can do as you please...

There seems to be lots of guidance out there, this link being only a few months old.

Linky
That takeaway is same limits apply to carrying on person vs. in luggage.

It does seem the rules may vary for the owner/pilot vs. a passenger. Not sure on that, but as long as I can get it easily on board in my luggage I think that's all I'd really care about. If I felt the need to have on me during flight, I'd reevaluate the friend!

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
... far as I know, you can do as you please...

Is that just your intuition or you have a source?

The couple times per year that I fly private; we do not go through security and we are able to not only bring firearms in carry-on, but we are also able to conceal carry in-flight.

Getting on the aircraft is not much different than loading up in an SUV and hitting the road.

I fly privately much more than commercially. I almost always carry while flying. The thing that you need to be careful of is the laws wherever you are going.

While it is perfectly legal for me to conceal carry when flying anywhere in California and even to go into the terminal building and pickup a rental car (In CA, only the secure area of the terminal is off limits, other than LAX which ignores state preemption), the same is not true in all states. If I fly into New Mexico and need to go into the terminal to pickup a rental car, I can’t do that legally while carrying.

As long as you access the aircraft from other than a TSA secured terminal, you are good as far as the feds are concerned. Usually, non-airline aircraft use a completely different building than the airlines, and thus do not have TSA.

"Private" can mean just some guy with his own airplane, or a charter operation (small company or something like NetJets). They are free to make their own rules about your firearm.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
There seems to be lots of guidance out there, this link being only a few months old.

Linky
That takeaway is same limits apply to carrying on person vs. in luggage.

It does seem the rules may vary for the owner/pilot vs. a passenger. Not sure on that, but as long as I can get it easily on board in my luggage I think that's all I'd really care about. If I felt the need to have on me during flight, I'd reevaluate the friend!

Don’t think much of the Flying magazine article. It says the TSA rules are the same then links to a TSA page clearly geared toward airline flying that says nothing at all about private flying.

There’s basically three kinds of flying as far as the FAA is concerned:

Scheduled airlines - scheduled “public flying”. This gets the highest level of scrutiny from the FAA and TSA is definitely involved.

Charter flying - unscheduled “public flying”. This could be chartered jets or a little Cessna, but someone is paying for the passenger to get a ride somewhere. The FAA still keeps a pretty good eye on this, but it is less rigid than scheduled airlines. I could see TSA being involved in some cases, though it wasn’t the one time I did charter. Of course, that was back in 2001 so I’m sure things have changed.

Private flying - the most reimbursement allowed is proportional sharing of the direct costs of the flight. If it is just you and your buddy, as far as the FAA is concerned at most you can pitch in for half the gas and half the oil, maybe half the tie down fees, though I’d have to reread the fine points. There are no checkpoints and the TSA has very little, if any involvement at all.

As far as how you transport it during the flight, I don’t carry during the flight because I think I might need it during the flight. I carry during the flight because when the flight is over I don’t have to go find someplace to gear up. I’ve always felt the safest place for the gun is in a holster on my person. If I have to travel commercial, that isn’t an option, but if I’m flying privately why do anything else?

Yeah, I’d evaluate where you may end up, States. You likely have already done that.

Say you’re at a small airport in MT, flying to SD, zero worries there.

Some smaller airports with limited scheduled airline service have at least part time TSA in that commercial area. It doesn’t mean you can’t have a legal gun over at the FBO, but just something to think about if you were about to mingle.

I’ve gone hunting with light, private aircraft, zero issues.

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:

If I go on vacation in a privately owned plane, and get picked up at a local airport, am I allowed to bring a firearm with me? It would be a friend and his airplane, not a charter.

Yes, you are allowed to bring a firearm with you, just as if you were traveling in a privately owned car. Of course, if your friend doesn't want you on board with a firearm, that is his prerogative, as the airplane owner and PIC (Pilot In Command).

If there is no airline service at any of the airports you use in the trip, it is highly unlikely that you will have any dealings with TSA. If the airport does have airline service, General Aviation pilots and passengers usually do not go through TSA "secure" areas, so there should not be any problem there.

I wound up calling the airport. They said bringing a firearm is just fine as long as it’s in a case. Quite honestly he did have to discuss it with someone else in the office with him. It was clear that he wasn’t sure and had not been posed with this question before. There’s no objection from the pilot that I know for sure.

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:

I wound up calling the airport. They said bringing a firearm is just fine as long as it’s in a case.

I believe that you have not said whether it's a long gun or a handgun.

If it's a long gun, yeah, it should be in a case. Might not be a legal requirement, but an uncased rifle / shotgun might cause a lot of unwanted excitement at an airport (although a guy at Our Little Airport rides around in an ATV with an uncased long gun on a rack, and nobody seems to care).

If it's a handgun, and you are legal for concealed carry at both ends of the flight, there's no need for a case -- just keep it concealed, don't ask, don't tell.