This thread was started from another thread where I recounted a near gear up landing In a Seneca five twin that happened to me.
This was into an airfield wih no published instrument approach and only a NDB and DME.
Having gone through all the pre landing checks with low cloud and v poor vis I as the commander had my eyes fixed on the runway numbers for landing.
At that point the aircraft ran back into scud cloud and I told the elderly pilot in the right seat that I was going around.
In that split second as I was still pearing out on my spoken word of go around he reached over and lifted the gear.
At the same time the aircraft came back out of the scud cloud with the numbers visible. I cancelled and elected to land.
It was as I went to flair the aircraft that I glanced down to see all three greens extinguished. I instantly went for full power and a go around.
This was not a case of who was Captain or having someone with more experience in the right seat but an odd mix of single pilot and CRM which in this single pilot aircraft was not defined or communicated and not helped by us both trying to keep the runway numbers in view.
That then took the discussion to the fact that especially with the recession and pilots sharing costs and flying should there be a set structure for PPL CRM in single pilot light aircraft?
At present there is none and the other pilots duties can range from loading the GPS only to as one poster put it playing at Airline pilots.
In PPL flying even during the course of the flight the interaction between the two pilots and the duties carried out can change maybe as one pilot gets bored.
When the going gets rough both pilots making up there own duties and maybe not even communicating those actions can be a recipe for an expensive mistake.
The question maybe should be " should there be a custom made CRM designed for multi crew in light GA single pilot aircraft and what should that be" ?
Pace