I don’t understand the signing out bit as PIC, and would appreciate those who know answering any or all of the following questions.
Is that always done in the UK, or only in the case of flying schools and rental arrangements? Does the law say it must? How does that go at farm strips etc.?
Is the techlog always signed to show PIC before the start of a flight? Again, does the law say it must?
I was commissioned to do a report to the BGA on PIC issues for gliding some years ago, and during the course of that I discussed several issues with the CAA and with other GA organisations.
Several GA pilots were emphatic that they could take off with one person (A, say) as PIC; and hand over to another (say B) during flight, without landing between. Each would log (in their personal logbooks) their own time as PIC. (Note – PIC is not the same as PF – AIUI, any PPL can let somebody else fly, but remain PIC. All my questions here are about PIC, not PF.) I did not think to ask, and nobody mentioned, what the “signing out” thing, whatever that is, or what the techlog, would have recorded beforehand.
At first, the CAA told me that there could only be one PIC for the whole flight. That person pointed out that in airliners, the commander was PIC for the whole flight even he was asleep and the FO(s) was/were flying it.
Later, a different CAA person led me to believe that the GA pilots’ belief was true, or at least the legislation was not sufficiently clear to rule it out. I never got to the bottom of it as far as PPLs are concerned.
In the OP’s scenario, however, if the general belief among PPLs is correct, surely A could hand over to B as PIC for any or all of the flight. (Nothing to do with PF or seat position, provided either can reach the controls from whatever seat they are in.)
So, is this what PPLs now believe? Can anyone show how the ANO (or any other legislation) in the UK allows PIC to change from one to another during flight?
And re my questions above – if it is true that either sign-out or techlog must show PIC before the flight starts, do both pilots have to be recorded beforehand as PIC for different legs (when it is planned to be one flight without an intervening landing)?
(By the way, in UK gliding, the PIC is always,
AFAIK, declared before the flight and never changes. The only exception I can think of is what happens if PIC is incapacitated – and I know of no case where that arose and caused a problem.)
Chris N
(Written before the posts immediately above - I would still like law-based answers if possible.)