bar shaker:
If "that's the most pathetic and ridiculous post" you've read then I humbly suggest that you've not read much else on PPRuNe - there's loads worse out there.
Flyin' Dutch:
Fair enough, I posted a bit of a non-sequitur, without much explanation, but to be honest most of the time the folks out there do their own analysis of posts anyway, and I hardly think this is the worst example of thread creep I've seen. I DO think the accident report is relevant to this discussion, and I think I've got my facts right.
Let's put the legalities aside - there's a sort of consensus developing that no-one really knows 100% for sure if it's prohibited or allowed in the ANO, but as long as you don't let anything stupid happen or no-one finds out you're ok.
Now for some of the practicalities. In the types I fly, the RFM says the duals must be removed if the passenger is not rated. For clarity and completeness, these are R22s and R44s (and the passenger must be helicopter rated, not type rated), which I grant you are a tad more unstable than your average spamcan, but the principle still applies.
I'm assuming our pilot is an average sort of bod, not a test pilot nor recently discovered by anthropologists. The pilot in this accident had 224 hours - not a novice - and he'd flown 7 hours in the last 3 months, with one hour in the last 28 days - that tallies with my sort of currency when I was flying f/w and I think it's about the norm, maybe slightly low, for PPLs (any firmer figures much appreciated).
The aircraft went from straight and level to in flight failure in less than 5 seconds of deviating from straight and level flight. That is quick. You're both right (bar shaker and FD) in that there was no firm cause found. The conclusions paragraph of this particular report states
The investigation did not reveal any evidence that the possibility of such a sequence of control inputs had been a deliberate action, or that the manoeuvre could have been induced by any reasonable failure of the auto-pilot or pitch trim system. Thus, the manoeuvre being unintentionally initiated by, possibly, the front right seat occupant grasping the control yoke for support, and completed by the pilot in an attempt to recover the aircraft, could not be dismissed
No other more reliable cause for the accident is given - if there were a conclusive cause, I wouldn't be writing this post. Reading between the AAIB lines, I think the only way it can be read is that IS the most likely cause.
You have grounds perhaps to accuse me of not directly relating a "look mum, we're straight and level and granny's flying the aeroplane" type of scenario to a "oh sh1t, where's the ground gone while I've been looking out the window" sort of scenario, but that's about it.
My point I suppose is - talk about this sort of thing with an instructor before you actually do it. If they don't think it's a good idea, don't even bother. If they agree to it, then brief it first with the instructor as to what you're going to do THEN brief the passenger fully, preferably with the instructor in attendance. When the moment comes if you feel the least bit unhappy, don't bother.
As a pilot develops experience, then fine, expand the envelope. you know if you're happy with the situation and are 110% vigilant at the time the passenger is handling the controls, then the mostly likely outcome is a safe return to earth and a memorable flight. But, to paraphrase the AAIB, "other outcomes should not be dismissed".
Last paragraph. I promise. For my part, until I'm an instructor, I'll not be letting other people pole when I carry them as passengers on a private flight, and if I can remove the duals, then I will.