FO Kite,
Nothing I have seen in any law prevents me from sending a refresher student flying on his own! You have not shown us any regulation which would prevent it; simply quoting a generic comment from the CAA web site, out of its intended context will not do!
"No valid rating = no privilege to operate the aircraft as PIC = no solo"
Agree with your comment right up to the second equals sign! No privilege to fly as PIC then the pilot may only fly under the supervision of an instructor.
Consider a pilot who had a licence 30 years ago but has not flown since. He comes along and asks to undertake training to renew his licence; what training do you recommend?? The AMC says quite clearly that training should be based on the initial course and it also suggests that, after just three years the entire course should be repeated to regain a rating. So, after 30 years of no flying are you really going to train a pilot with no solo? I'm not! He needs to regain his judgement, confidence and airmanship by solo flying under the watchful eye of an instructor before he goes out to fly with 3 pax on a crappy day.
"Qualified pilots have to have a valid rating to operate as PIC (solo)." No real argument with this statement but I'd add that once his rating has expired he is no longer a "qualified pilot" and he reverts to being a student - simple!
Don't know if you are a HoT or not but, if you are then you are entitled to make up your own mind what training you think is reasonable and so am I
apropos of Whopity's comment; it's not just the National Authorities who insist on things which are not in the regulation. Why do we seek to make things more difficult for ourselves??
I seem to be in tune with the majority here and I will therefore continue to use solo practice as an important tool for training all students; pre or post licence!!
Happy landings
3 Point