Originally Posted by
WestWind1950
I was involved in an accident in March 2013 (two -seater powered glider). The children of the PIC, who died in the crash, tried to give me a bit of the responsibility, but at the court proceedings they lost as the PIC is the person in the left hand seat. There was no argument about that!! I'm still suffering from that accident (I can't walk)!! I was once a flight instrutor but that was no longer good.
There’s a lot here that we don’t know:
Where you giving instruction or was this a joyride.
Were you current in make and model?
Were you even familiar with make and model?
Did you hold a medical on that day?
Long story short did you qualify to be PIC that day or not?
There’s a lot there that would have come up during a judicial inquiry.
In the original question assume we have three people that are similarly experienced and everybody is current and otherwise qualified to be PIC, can the person in the backseat be the PIC? Yes they can.
As far as rental aircraft, in whose name is the aircraft signed out that flight?
That will always be the one responsible in the eyes of the insurance company.