[QUOTE=bfato]It's a stupid point really, don't worry about it. What it comes down to is I don't understand how the FAA can have a system of two people logging PIC for the same flight. Only one of you can be the commander, captain, bossman, head honcho, whatever. It's not about who does the planning or handling but who was in charge, who the buck stops with. QUOTE]
The answer is that in FAA-land they distinguish between PIC in the legal sense (ie responsible for airspace busts, evacuations of the White House, payments to orphans etc) and PIC time which is logged under the FARs. There is only one legally responsible PIC, but in the case of a CFI flying right seat with a certificated pilot they will argue that
- they are providing dual training, loggable for them as PIC, even though the other guy is actually the sole manipulator of the control, and
- they are not legally PIC - that's the left seat guy who rented the plane
I'd be willing the bet all the CFIs who flew for free on potkettleblack's dime will have logged every minute. But he would have been legally PIC if anything went wrong. There is no P1 or P2 under the FARs, only PIC.