AVident

Flight Release and Assumption of Risk Agreement

Last updated: September 15, 2026

In plain language: flying small aircraft can hurt or kill you. By signing, you accept that risk, you promise you are legally qualified and fit to fly, and you give up the right to sue the aircraft's owner or school, your instructor, and AVident for ordinary negligence if something goes wrong. You do not give up claims for gross negligence, intentional wrongdoing, or anything the law says cannot be waived. It covers every flight you take with this Provider for 12 months.

1. Who this agreement is between

You ("Member", "I") are the AVident member signing below. You are signing for yourself and, to the extent the law allows, this release also binds claims asserted through your heirs, estate, and personal representatives.

The Released Parties are: (a) the Provider named in the signature block, being the aircraft owner, flight school, instructor, examiner, or service provider you are booking with, together with its owners, co-owners, members, officers, employees, instructors, designated instructors, independent-contract instructors, mechanics, agents, contractors, and other persons acting on its behalf in connection with the Activities, whether or not the instructor conducting your flight is the Provider itself; (b) any other registered owner or lessor of the aircraft you fly under this agreement; and (c) AVident, its owner, officers, employees, contractors, and successors (together, "AVident").

The Activities are everything you do with the Provider through AVident: renting or flying an aircraft, receiving flight or ground instruction, taking a practical test, ferry or contract flights, riding as a passenger or observer, preflight and postflight ground operations, and being on the ramp, in a hangar, or at any airport in connection with a booking.

2. I understand the risks

I understand that general aviation involves inherent risks that cannot be eliminated regardless of the care taken by anyone. Those risks include, without limitation: mechanical, structural, or engine failure; weather; turbulence; wake turbulence; loss of control; midair or ground collision; controlled flight into terrain; fire; fuel exhaustion; carbon monoxide; hypoxia; spatial disorientation; bird strike; runway incursion; propeller injury; error by me, by an instructor, by another pilot, by air traffic control, or by a mechanic; and undiscovered defects in the aircraft or its maintenance. These risks can result in serious injury, permanent disability, death, and loss of or damage to property.

I have had the chance to ask the Provider questions about the aircraft and the Activities, and I am signing this freely and with a full understanding of what it means.

3. I assume the risks

To the fullest extent permitted by law, I voluntarily assume all risk of personal injury, death, and loss of or damage to property arising out of or related to the Activities, whether those risks are known or unknown to me, and whether or not they are caused in whole or in part by the ordinary negligence of a Released Party.

4. Release and waiver of claims

To the fullest extent permitted by law, I release, waive, and discharge the Released Parties from every claim, demand, cause of action, and liability of any kind, including claims for a Released Party's own ordinary negligence, arising out of or related to the Activities, including claims for personal injury, death, and property damage.

This release does not cover a Released Party's gross negligence, willful or intentional misconduct, fraud, or any liability that California Civil Code section 1668 or other applicable law does not allow a person to release. It does not limit any obligation a Released Party has under an insurance policy that names me or my property.

5. I will not sue, and I will cover claims I cause

I agree not to bring, and not to permit anyone acting on my behalf to bring, any claim against a Released Party that this agreement releases. If I do, I will pay the Released Party's reasonable attorneys' fees and costs of defending it.

I will defend, indemnify, and hold the Released Parties harmless from third-party claims, including claims by any passenger or other person I bring aboard or onto the ramp, to the extent the claim is caused by my acts or omissions during the Activities.

6. What I promise about myself

Each time I fly under this agreement, I represent that:

  1. I hold every FAA certificate, rating, endorsement, and medical certificate (or BasicMed or driver's-license privilege) that the flight requires, and each is current and not suspended or revoked, except where I am a student receiving instruction and the law does not require it.
  2. I meet the recent-experience and currency requirements of 14 CFR Part 61 for the flight, including any the Provider's insurance requires.
  3. I am the pilot in command with final authority and responsibility for the flight under 14 CFR 91.3, unless an instructor or examiner is acting as pilot in command, in which case I remain responsible for my own conduct.
  4. Before each flight I will become familiar with all available information concerning it as 14 CFR 91.103 requires, including weather, NOTAMs, runway lengths, fuel, and aircraft performance, and I will perform a complete preflight inspection.
  5. I will not fly, or attempt to fly, within 8 hours of consuming alcohol, while impaired by any substance, with a blood alcohol level of 0.04 or more, or when I am fatigued, ill, stressed, or otherwise not fit to fly.
  6. I will follow the Provider's checkout requirements, rental instructions, and aircraft limitations, the pilot's operating handbook, and all Federal Aviation Regulations, and I will not operate the aircraft for hire, in flight training of others, or outside the geographic or operational limits the Provider sets.
  7. I carry any renter's or non-owned aircraft insurance the Provider's listing requires, and the policy is in force for the flight.

7. The aircraft

I understand that AVident does not inspect aircraft, verify maintenance, or determine airworthiness, and that the Provider is responsible for the aircraft's maintenance records. I will inspect the aircraft before each flight. If I find, or the aircraft's records show, a condition that makes it unairworthy or unsafe, I will not fly it and I will report the condition to the Provider through the app's squawk feature. By taking the aircraft, I accept it in the condition I found it after my inspection.

8. Damage and financial responsibility

If the aircraft is damaged while in my care, I am responsible to the Provider for the loss up to the damage-responsibility amount stated in the Provider's listing at the time of booking and quoted in my signature block, and for the full loss if the damage results from my violation of this agreement, of the Federal Aviation Regulations, or of the Provider's limitations. The Provider may recover those amounts as the Provider Agreement and Terms of Service describe. Nothing in this section limits a Provider's own insurance or increases AVident's liability, which the Terms cap.

9. If I am receiving instruction or taking a test

When an instructor or examiner is aboard, I understand that they may act as pilot in command, that they are an independent business and not AVident's employee, and that this release applies to them as a Released Party. I remain responsible for my own actions, for the accuracy of my logbook and credentials, and for the representations in Section 6 that apply to me.

10. Medical treatment

If I am injured and cannot consent, I authorize the Released Parties to obtain emergency medical care for me. I am responsible for its cost.

11. Members under 18

AVident membership and booking through the Platform require the Member to be at least 18 years old (Terms §2.1). By signing, I confirm that I am.

12. How long this lasts

This agreement covers every booking and flight with the Provider that begins within 12 months of the date I sign it, and any later flight until I sign a newer version. AVident will ask me to sign again if the text changes, or if the Provider changes its damage-responsibility amount or other material terms for an aircraft I book, in which case the new signature covers that aircraft. Ending my AVident account does not end this agreement for flights that already happened.

13. Law, disputes, and severability

California law governs this agreement. Any dispute between me and the Provider arising out of this agreement or the Activities will be resolved by binding individual arbitration on the same terms, procedure, and opt-out right set out in Section 11 of the Terms of Service, as if the Provider were named there in AVident's place. AVident is not a party to a dispute between me and a Provider by reason of this agreement. Disputes between me and AVident remain governed by the Terms. If any part of this agreement is held unenforceable, the rest stays in effect, and the unenforceable part is read as narrowly as needed to make it enforceable.

14. Electronic signature and records

I agree to sign this agreement electronically, and that my typed legal name and drawn signature, together with the date, time, IP address, and device AVident records, are my signature and have the same effect as a handwritten one under the federal E-SIGN Act and California's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. AVident emails a PDF copy to me and to the Provider and keeps a copy with each booking. I can download it from my account at any time. Earlier versions of this text stay available at flyavident.com/flight-release/<date>.

I have read and understand this Flight Release and understand that I am giving up the right to sue the Released Parties for ordinary negligence.