Anyone who's spent time around light-jet forums or a CJP hangar conversation has heard the warning: "watch out, some of these dry leases are really just illegal charters wearing a costume." It's not paranoia. The FAA has spent real enforcement effort chasing arrangements that use lease paperwork to disguise unauthorized air transportation — and the agency actively campaigns to warn the public about it. So the question deserves a straight answer, not a vibe.
The straight answer: yes, dry leasing a private jet is legal — when it's built correctly. The FAA doesn't regulate what the paperwork is called; it regulates who is actually in charge of the flight. Get that part right, in writing and in practice, and a dry lease is a completely ordinary, well-established way to operate an aircraft under 14 CFR Part 91 — the same rules that govern every private owner-flown airplane in the country. Get it wrong, and no amount of paperwork saves you. Here's the machinery, in plain English, plus a checklist you can run on any lessor — including us.
One note before we start: this is education, not legal advice. It explains how the framework generally works so you can ask better questions — it isn't a substitute for review by qualified aviation counsel on your specific lease.
The test the FAA actually applies: operational control
Everything in this article traces back to one term, defined in 14 CFR §1.1: operational control is "the exercise of authority over initiating, conducting or terminating a flight." Not who owns the airplane. Not who's sitting in the left seat. Whoever holds the authority to decide whether a given flight happens, where it goes, and whether it's safe to continue is the operator — and the regulatory obligations that come with operating an aircraft attach to that party.
In a dry lease, that party is you, the lessee. The lessor hands over an airplane with no crew and no fuel — the rental-car version of aviation — and you supply everything that turns it into a flight: the pilot, the go/no-go decision, the routing, the schedule. You can absolutely delegate the flying to a professional pilot; that's the whole point of hiring one. What you cannot delegate is the responsibility. It stays with you, on paper and in practice, for as long as the lease runs. That distinction — delegating the task without delegating the authority — is what makes a dry lease a dry lease instead of a charter.
The crew rule: you hire, you choose, you pay
This is the rule that does the most work in practice, and it's the simplest to state: in a legitimate dry lease, the lessee selects, hires, and pays the pilot — directly, not through the lessor. The moment an aircraft provider also supplies, schedules, or pays the crew, the FAA's functional test flips the arrangement into something that looks like a charter, because now one party is providing both the airplane and the operation of it — which is exactly what a Part 135 certificate exists to regulate.
A lessor can ethically hand you a list of independent, qualified pilots who know the airframe — that's a convenience, not a violation, as long as the choice, the hire, and the paycheck are yours. What crosses the line is any version of "we'll have a crew ready for you," pilot fees folded into the hourly aircraft rate, or a lessor who quietly reserves the right to bump your pilot for one of "theirs." If you ever can't tell whether you hired the pilot or the lessor did, that's the question to stop and answer before you sign anything.
Truth-in-leasing: what 14 CFR §91.23 actually requires
14 CFR §91.23, the truth-in-leasing rule, is the part of the regulation written specifically so operational control can't be fudged in the fine print. It formally applies to leases of large civil aircraft — those with a maximum certificated takeoff weight of more than 12,500 pounds — and where it applies, it requires the lease document to state in writing which party holds operational control, a copy of the lease to be carried aboard the aircraft, and advance notice to the FAA's local Flight Standards District Office before the first flight under the lease. It's the regulation that turns "who's really in charge here" from an argument into a paper trail.
Worth being precise about: a Citation CJ1 comes in under that 12,500-pound threshold, so the formal filing and carry-aboard mechanics of §91.23 don't technically apply to leases of an aircraft this size. But the operational-control test underneath those mechanics — the §1.1 definition above — applies to every Part 91 lease regardless of the aircraft's weight; the FAA doesn't stop caring who's in charge just because the airplane is lighter. We follow the truth-in-leasing discipline anyway and put operational control in writing in every lease, on the theory that a rule you'd only follow when required isn't really a principle. (That paragraph is a summary of a technical weight-threshold distinction — if it matters to your situation, confirm the current application of §91.23 with your own aviation counsel rather than relying on this article alone.)
Why the FAA is actively policing this space
None of this is theoretical. The FAA runs an ongoing public-education and enforcement effort — Safe Air Charter — aimed specifically at arrangements that market as memberships, co-ownership programs, or leases while functioning as unauthorized air transportation. The agency's evidentiary standard is called "holding out": if an operator advertises or otherwise signals to the public that it will fly you somewhere, on demand, for a fee, the FAA treats that as evidence of common carriage — regardless of what the contract is titled. Marketing language becomes evidence in an enforcement file. That's the real reason legitimate lessors are so particular about the words they use: "the same jet you'd charter, for far less" describes an aircraft; "we'll fly you to the islands" describes a charter, no matter what the invoice says.
The consequences for getting caught on the wrong side of that line range from cease-and-desist letters to civil penalties to referral for certificate action against anyone involved who does hold a pilot or operating certificate. For a deeper, neutral explainer of how the industry itself frames legitimate leasing versus disguised charter, NBAA — the National Business Aviation Association — publishes a solid aircraft leasing guide worth reading alongside this one.
When someone approaches us wanting a flown-for-them trip rather than an aircraft to operate themselves, we say the same thing every time: "That's a charter — and we're deliberately not a charter company. If a flown-for-you trip is what you need, I'm happy to point you to a certificated Part 135 operator." We hold no Part 135 certificate, by design — we lease aircraft, we don't sell air transportation, and we'd rather send you elsewhere than blur that line for a sale.
Run this audit on us — or on anyone
You shouldn't have to take a lessor's word for any of this, including ours. Here's the checklist we'd want a smart lessee to run before signing with any dry-lease provider:
- Does the lease say, in writing, that you hold operational control? Not implied — stated, in the document itself.
- Who picks the pilot? If the answer is anyone but you, ask why.
- Who pays the pilot, and how? A separate invoice, direct from you to the pilot, is the honest version. A pilot fee baked into the hourly aircraft rate is a red flag.
- Is availability "guaranteed," or is it "you request, we confirm"? A true dry lease is non-exclusive — no lessor can promise a specific tail will always be free, because that promise starts to look like dispatch.
- Does the marketing sell an aircraft, or a trip? Read the website and the ads with the rental-car test in mind: would the sentence still make sense with "rental car" substituted for "aircraft"? If not, be cautious.
- Would they refer you elsewhere if what you actually want is a crewed flight? A lessor that never says "that's a charter, here's who to call" is a lessor that may not know — or may not want you to know — where the line is.
- Can you see your name on the insurance and operational-control language before you fly? If the paperwork can't show you this in advance, that's worth pausing on.
Run every item on that list against our own dry-leasing page — we've written it to answer each question in plain sight, on purpose. If anything there is unclear, that's a fair reason to ask us directly before you sign anything, not after.
The bottom line
Dry leasing is legal, well-established, and — for anyone flying enough hours to make the math work — a genuinely better structure than charter: you get the aircraft, you keep the control, and you pay direct costs instead of retail. It stays legal for exactly as long as operational control stays with you on paper and in practice. If you're still working out the vocabulary, our companion piece on dry lease vs. charter: what's the difference? is a two-minute read that lays the terms side by side, and our Citation CJ1 page shows what a compliant lease looks like on an actual aircraft.
This article is general information about how FAA rules on aircraft leasing typically work — it is not legal advice and does not cover every fact pattern. Regulatory citations (including 14 CFR §1.1, §91.23, and Part 135) are summarized for plain-English understanding; always confirm current requirements and how they apply to your specific lease with qualified aviation counsel. Palm Aero Group is not a charter operator and holds no Part 135 certificate — here's exactly how a compliant dry lease works.