§40125 Qualifications for Public Aircraft Status

Summary

Says when a government airplane counts as a "public aircraft" and when it does not. It defines four key terms in one line each: Commercial purposes — carrying people or cargo for pay, with a narrow military exception tied to reimbursements required by law, rule, or order in effect on November 1, 1999, or certain government‑to‑government cost‑reimbursement flights that the receiving government certifies were needed to meet a serious, immediate threat and no private service was reasonably available. Governmental function — government work like defense, intelligence, firefighting, search and rescue, law enforcement, research, resource or infrastructure work, and other activities the FAA says are inherently governmental. Qualified non‑crewmember — a non‑crew person on board who is on a military or intelligence flight or is needed to do or support a governmental function. Armed forces — as defined in Title 10, section 101. Some government aircraft lose public‑aircraft status if they carry paying passengers or anyone who is not crew or a qualified non‑crewmember. Other government aircraft qualify as public aircraft when they are operated under Title 10, when used to perform a governmental function under Titles 14, 31, 32, or 50 and not used for commercial purposes, or when chartered to provide commercial service to the armed forces and the Secretary of Defense (or the secretary of the department that runs the Coast Guard) says the operation is required in the national interest. National Guard planes count as public aircraft only when under direct Department of Defense control. An aircraft that is not leased exclusively to a state or local government for at least 90 continuous days can still be treated as public aircraft only if the FAA finds extraordinary circumstances, it will be used for search and rescue, the community otherwise lacks rescue services, and a government shows the waiver is needed to avoid an undue economic burden.