PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - best flying school to enroll in the philippines
Old 11th Oct 2009, 11:10
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M 0.78
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Philippines
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Safety Pilot???

Strictly speaking, a safety pilot is the fellow who keeps an eye out for traffic while the another pilot is practicing instrument flight under a hood in visual conditions. Only the pilot who is flying the airplane may log the flight time.

At an aero club where I worked decades ago, a safety pilot was a pilot member who accompanied another pilot member to an unfamiliar destination. The safety pilot was just along for the ride. He could not log the flight time.

These days, a "safety pilot" is someone that may or may not have an instructor's license who accompanies student pilots on "solo" flights. This is strictly illegal. Solo flight requires the student to be the sole occupant of the aircraft. The great majority of pilot schools in the Philippines do not allow student pilots to fly solo cross-country without a "safety pilot."

As far as I know, the only civilian pilot schools that allow student pilots to fly real solo cross-country flights are PAL, Omni, and Clark Aviation.

Most schools allow their students to fly solo only in the traffic pattern. They have somehow convinced their students that it is legal to have a "safety pilot" come along on their "solo cross-country flights." The practice so widespread that it is considered "normal."

It is abnormal, illegal, and unsafe!
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