UK perspective, and I suspect almost everywhere else too.
I suspect that the absence of specific legislation regarding pax handling the controls of private aircraft is due to the total non-issue of them doing so, to the extent that the law has no interest in it. Far beyond a non-issue in fact, surely this is so well established over the best part of a century that it is normal aviation practice?
It is unnecessary for the regs re commercial aircraft to address this as company Ops manuals deal with it.
Why anyone gets hot under the collar about this is beyond me, as is the attitude of a PPL who refuses to let pax have a go. How sad that people feel so over-regulated that they manage to imagine "rules" where none exist. Didn't they study Aviation Law? As it is something that everyone knows almost all piots do it would feature large if it were illegal, wouldn't it? And wouldn't there be regs preventing pax sitting in front of controls? Or requirements to remove them (if removable) if the seat occupant didn't have a licence? Use your noddles people. This is just daft! D'uh oh!
So what does the book have to say about this, nothing. Nothing whatsoever, so how does anyone dream this nonsense up?
Further on understanding of the the Aviation Law aspect, there has been discussion above on the definition of "flight crew" and whether hands on the controls makes one so. Common sense says not, but that's no longer something to be relied upon these days. However your knowledge of Aviation Law (once again) should tell you...How many pilots is the aircraft certified for? In the PPL case just one. In a normal private flight can it have more? No, just one. No one else can log hours but the pilot in command. If handling the controls made you part of the flight crew you'd be able to log the hours, wouldn't you? But you know perfectly well you can't. So what happens if a second PPL (this is not an instructional flight) is in the second seat. What happens if he doesn't handle the controls and just sits there. Is he part of the flight crew? Of course not. That's clearly daft.
So if he now does handle the controls is he suddenly part of the flight crew? If so when does he log his time as whatever category of whatever this imaginary category of flight crew is? From take off? Handling time only? Of course not. How can he be if it is a single pilot operation? And wouldn't the regs - which are pretty comprehensive - deal with this glaring anomaly if it fact it actually existed. Of course it would. The fact they are silent on the matter proves that it is in fact pure imagination, it does not exist.
Forget about it people, get on with your flying and when appropriate let your eager pax have a go. When to do so is your decision as the sole pilot in command of a single pilot flight.
Last edited by Agaricus bisporus; 21st Dec 2012 at 12:42.