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From: gjphw@ihuxm.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: Regulations Query
Message-ID: <261@ihuxm.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Jun-83 18:28:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxm.261
Posted: Wed Jun 15 18:28:02 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 16-Jun-83 22:40:54 EDT
Organization: BTL Naperville, Il.
Lines: 51



   Unfortunately, this commentary is being written without my copy of the
FARs conveniently in hand.  But then, I'm a pilot (commercial SEL) and not
a lawyer, so you may judge what this commentary is worth.

   The item about allowing a private pilot to share the expenses in any
arbitrary way merely implies that a private cannot make a living (profit) by
flying.  Business people may choose to fly but their piloting must be a means
to an end (making an income) rather than an end in itself.  A short while ago,
a net item from Canada remarked that private pilots cannot share the expenses
of a rental airplane.

   The question of safety and copilots has been hazy with the FAA for quite
some time.  At one time, a copilot did not even have to be qualified in a
airplane to act as a copilot.  So, I with my time in Cherokees could act as
a copilot of a Lear.  This would be okay with me as long as the PIC did not
expect anything more from me than a pair of eyes and lively conversation.
Now, copilots must at least be FAA rated for the aircraft in question.  It
is often the insurance companies, though, that in fact establish the experience
requirements for PIC.  Copilot time can only be logged in an aircraft or
type of operation (Part 135 or better) that requires a copilot.

   When flying with an instructor, the instructor is always the PIC.  When
the instructor is acting as an FAA examiner, or you fly with a real FAA
examiner, then the examiner is an observer and you are the PIC.  This may
have come about due to liability problems.  Anyway, a student pilot must
either fly alone as the sole occupant of the aircraft, and is for that time
a PIC, or fly with an instructor, who is then the PIC.

   Now comes the difficult part.  The status of a safety pilot seems only one
rung below that of a copilot (other than being responsible for the ice and
magazines).  It is not time that can be logged but the safety pilot should
be able to handle the controls.  Whether or not the safety pilot should have the
qualifications to handle the controls as PIC seems to be the question.  It is
my opinion that if the safety pilot is expected to handle the controls, they
should be qualified to act as PIC in that aircraft.  Only an instructor can
act as PIC without touching the controls (a miracle from the FAA).  In single
engine aircraft, the person manipulating the controls is the PIC.  If the
safety pilot is allowed to touch the controls (e.g., to recover from an
unusual attitude), then they must be able to assume PIC responsibilities.
So, a student pilot cannot act as a safety pilot.

   While the FAA may be ambiguous on this point, I would bet that few
insurance companies have this difficulty.  I would bet that they would want
to see the safety pilot capable of assuming PIC responsibilities.

                                               Patrick Wyant
                                               *!ihuxm!gjphw
                                               Bell Labs (Naperville, IL)