There will be no "ZimRide for airplanes", according to an FAA ruling released today that prohibits private pilots from publicly offering seats on their planes in exchange for gas money, including via startups like AirPooler and Flytenow.
The decision strikes a blow to the sharing economy, and comes in response to AirPooler formally requesting a clarification of the gray area it was operating in. Banning this form of planesharing (like ridesharing for aircraft) could keep people safe by preventing them from hopping in with rookie pilots. However, it will also make it more expensive for pilots to fly since they can't share costs, reduce travel options for passengers, and kill off an entire category of startups.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday August 18 2014, @12:07PM
God Forbid we use our resources and energy more efficiently to do what we need to do or get where we need to go. Why, it's an assault on capitalism!!!
Me, I dream of a world where this sort of ride-sharing is the norm, where everyone generates their own energy, grows their own food, manufactures their own items. That's a world where you have no incentive to waste or fight to take what someone else has got, because you have what they have, if you want it. Throw in sea-steading or sky-steading and everyone can even have a place to lay their head.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Monday August 18 2014, @06:49PM
Yeah, it'll be just GREAT when anybody who has just gotten their pilots license can jump into the cockpit of a jumbo jet with zero hours flight-time. Damn those regulations!
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 1) by Wootery on Wednesday August 27 2014, @01:54PM
...did you somehow confuse allowed to take passengers, for a price with allowed to pilot a 747? No-one is suggesting more lenient qualifications for piloting airliners.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday August 18 2014, @11:07PM
Nice view from your house, I'll just print my own.
Oh wait.
Some resources are always limited