Largejet,
Thanks for your example which deals with a deliberate, illegal act and it will take a lawyer (any offers?) to determine the basis for deciding who was in command. For all I know it may be similar to recent dismissals in speeding cases where the owner of the vehicle refused to say who was driving. Human right law supported the owner's right to refuse to incriminate himself.
If the Tech Log is the definitive document as you suggest then the legal answer is clear and , whether the infringement is deliberate or not, the signee will be responsible. I know several groups where pilots fly together and one signs the Tech Log and one is captain.
However, if the two pilots have agreed after the flight what to put in their respective log books, before they knew about the illegal act, this should surely be strong evidence as long as entries do not conflict.
However I still believe that the safety issues involving two pilots are more complex and that the legal issues raised by you actually create difficulties which sometimes may compromise safety. I hope I can explain what I mean by developing my original example:
PPL and PPL/IR decide to fly from A to B and back and, with good weather forecast for route and destination, it is agreed that PPL will be in command for the first leg.
Actual weather becomes marginal VMC and there is no doubt that, on his own, PPL would return to A. If they do that, there is no legal or safety problem. However, knowing that PPL/IR will miss his turn they agree to transfer command to PPL/IR and continue the flight - still safe and still legal. At some point during this process they accidentally infringe controlled The CAA decides to prosecute - who?
The big factor here is the pressonitis which is the big killer. The point I am laboriously making is that this factor can be worse when two pilots with different experience or qualifications fly together. Understanding how, and when, to transfer command will make this situation safer and the extracts from the ANO offered by Bookworm,imply that this can legally be done.
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"If you keep doing what you've always done, you will keep getting what you've always got"
[This message has been edited by pulse1 (edited 01 November 2000).]