Without diging up and trying to decipher the regs (again), off the top of my head I'm sure it can be done legally! You just can't make a cent above expenses, so you'll need copies of all receipts for everything. You have to provide your services free, without a commercial ticket, but there's no reason you shouldn't be reimbursed for any and all expense to move the plane.
Come to think of it, I'd do it myself! Anybody need a Cessna flown out of Florida?
Or back?
Sorry Carl, you're absolutely wrong. Ferrying an airplane not your own, requires a commercial license unless the private pilot ferry pilot pays the owner for the privilege. The FAA sees the flight time itself as compensation so unless the pp ferry pilot is paying the owner, the ferry pilot had better have commercial privileges on their ticket. Since the only reason for the flight is to reposition the aircraft, there is no commonality of purpose for "sharing expenses." There's probably some young commercial pilot out there who would do it for expenses but a private pilot would be breaking the rules. Sorry, but that's the way the rules are written. Of course you could disregard the rules and do it anyway, but then if there's an accident, good luck on getting any insurance payout (owner allowed improperly certificated pilot to operate aircraft in violation of CFR...) and the private pilot could kiss his ticket bye bye.
I doubt a token payment to the owner would work either as the FAA doesn't generally look kindly at such tactics to avoid certificate actions when the intent is to get around the rules.
