And I am sure German instructors sit in the RHS too. How does a German ab initio PPL student log the flight?
Why? German PPL students sit on the lap of the FI, all on on the left seat of course.
any instructor in a G-reg (training towards JAA papers... let's keep this simple for now) is automatically PIC, even if the LHS occupant has sufficient papers to be PIC
Just to clarify, do you mean any instruction flight in a G-reg has the instructor promoted to PIC regardless of seat position and whether the student has sufficient papers ? Or do you mean any flight with an instructor on board has him promoted to PIC (I've heard that one a few times from respected instructor ! And a few times I heard if there's a CPL on board he is responsible... but I've never believed it)
Just to clarify, do you mean any instruction flight in a G-reg has the instructor promoted to PIC regardless of seat position and whether the student has sufficient papers ? Or do you mean any flight with an instructor on board has him promoted to PIC (I've heard that one a few times from respected instructor !
The former.
The latter cannot be true otherwise any instructor could never be a passenger only, with all the implications for logging the flight, payment being presumed (and being illegal in many scenarios e.g. in an N-reg in UK airspace without DfT permission, etc).
And a few times I heard if there's a CPL on board he is responsible... but I've never believed it
That is complete nonsense.
However - I do think that an instructor flying as a passenger, or anybody with an instructor qualification doing non-PIC mentoring (as in e.g. the UK AOPA sponsored PPL mentoring scheme, where a CRI is one of the possible requirements on the mentor) could be in a sticky situation if there was an accident, the passenger got killed (and could not offer his version of events) but the PIC survived and claimed it was an instructional flight on which the instructor was negligent (etc) and thus would be able to collect a 6 figure sum from the instructor's insurance. Most people will lie if they are badly injured and can get a lot of money, especially from a dead person. And if that dead person had a family, and had no insurance (or the insurance did not pay out) his family is going to get asset stripped. This is hypothetical but obviously possible. So if I was an instructor I would perhaps take care to not fly as a passenger with some complete cowboy, or in some piece of wreckage.
There have been cases in the USA where the FAA went (post crash) after an instructor who was flying as a passenger, but I have never heard of it in the UK.
That's one of those "there is no problem as long as all goes well" problems. As long as you and your buddy are good friends and everything is fine, everything is going to be fine. But if you bend your buddys aeroplane by landing hard due to the unusual position of the controls (*) and it comes down to the question whether you have to sell your house to pay for the damage or he has to sell his, he will most probably not be your best friend for much longer
Is there really insurance that says "The PIC must be in the left seat"? Ours certainly doesn't say this, and so long as the pilot in the right seat meets the insurance requirements, they are covered so no one has to sell anyone's house (or in our case, car - since our aircraft is about that value)
Another myth.
"Slips with flaps are prohibited".
(I have a T-shirt with a picture of a C172 slipping with flaps extended, with "Slips with flaps" in the vein of "Runs with scissors")
"Slips with flaps are prohibited".
Mentioned in my POH for the TR182 and even a placard in the cockpit. However, it does not say "forbidden" it says "avoid".
One old myth which went around the aviation sites since for ever was that if you do a CAS bust, and show to the CAA that you were navigating using the “approved” methods (map, compass, stopwatch) you would get a more favourable consideration.
It was always totally false.
Re CAS busts there used to be a way you could report it yourself and were supposed to be not prosecuted, provided you reported it before they charged you. It was a part of the just culture attempt, but apparently does not work anymore.
That is a NASA-run scheme in the US. I have not heard of any other country doing it.
On G-reg, the PIC can sit in either left/right seat?
How do you go about switching PIC during flight?
Example: Left pilot VFR qualified, right pilot IFR qualified, both pilots insured on the airplane.
Do you amend the flightplan inflight via FIS and tell the new PIC? Or just log the change in the aircraft journey log?
