I asked the CAA about safety pilots in 2000, and was told that they did not have to be qualified to be a PIC for practice IFR, nor did they need to be P1. They simply had to be competent to warn the PF of possible conflict in VFR.
Safety pilots carried for medical reasosns had to be qualified to be PIC, but need not be P1.
I got this over the phone, not in writing, from Rod Dean, and used it in a report commissioned by the BGA.
At the time, I needed to ask some other questions too. Following discussions elsewhere earlier this year, in February I wrote to the CAA asking about some other P1 issues. Apart from asking me what my qualifications are, they didn't reply. I chased them on 25th March and still have no answer,
Too difficult for them?
Chris N.
[I wrote: 1. There is a widespread impression in General Aviation circles that
it
> is possible for two suitably qualified pilots, flying an aircraft
> intended for one pilot at the controls but having two seats from which
> the controls can be manipulated (i.e. a typical light aircraft or
glider
> with two seats having dual controls), for the pilots to agree to
change
> from one being P1 to the other, in flight, e.g. after completing one
leg
> of out-and-return flight to a turning point without landing.
>
> I had a conversation with Rod Dean on 24th January 2000, when he was
> deputy head of the GA section of SRG, and I had been commissioned by
the
> British Gliding Association to investigate and report upon various
> different circumstances of pilots in command and safety pilots. I
> understood from that conversation that it was NOT permitted for
P1/Pilot
> in Command (PIC) to change from one to another during flight, only in
> between flights after a landing had taken place. He emphasised that
the
> P1/PIC did not have to remain at the controls, of course, if another
> pilot of suitable competence or properly under instruction were
> manipulating the controls.
>
> Can you please advise if it is, or is not, permitted for P1/PIC to
> change from one to another by agreement, prior or otherwise, in
flight.
> Can you also please advise where I can find definitive legislation on
> this - I cannot find it in the ANO.
>
> 2. There is a current discussion going on about whether a PPL holder,
> not currently meeting the 90-day rule of landings/take-offs for
carrying
> passengers, can regain a degree of currency by flying as a "passenger"
> with a P1/PIC PPL holder (not an instructor) who can supervise the
> out-of-check pilot while he conducts enough circuits to be able to
> perform satisfactorily; after which the In-check PPL pilot can vacate
> the aircraft, and leave the out-of-90 day pilot to conduct enough
> take-offs and landings solo to regain the 90-day condition. It is
> believed by many that a current PPL holder can allow anybody, not just
> an out-of-90 day PPL but even any passenger, to handle the controls,
> subject always of course to the P1/PIC being legally and in every
other
> way responsible for the safe conduct of the flight.
>
> I am interested in the gliding parallels for this belief - whether any
> solo glider pilot, not being an instructor, could allow a passenger to
> handle the controls during take-of or landing, or indeed at any other
> stage of a flight. (For example, a glider pilot in command of a
> two-seater having dual controls, may want to allow a current PPL SEP
to
> try the glider controls during a flight, and the issue arises that he
> may feel that such a degree of competence is demonstrated that it
would
> be safe to let the PPL holder undertake a glider landing.)
>
> It seems to me that the ANO section 1/46 seems to be relevant:
>
> "Pilots to remain at controls
>
> "41 (1) (a) The commander of a flying machine or glider registered in
> the United Kingdom shall cause one pilot to remain at the controls at
> all times while it is in flight."
>
> Can a passenger be a "pilot"? Can you therefore please advise if it
is,
> or is not, permitted for non-instructor pilot, PPL SEP or glider
pilot,
> to allow a person not so qualified to manipulate the controls of an
SEP
> or glider respectively during flight, and/or during take off or
landing.
> Again, can you also please advise where I can find definitive
> legislation on this - is the section of the ANO quoted above the last
> word on the subject, or could a "pilot" remaining at the controls in
> that context include a person who may not be qualified to be a P1/PiC?
>
> Chris J Nicholas (BGA Regional Safety Officer, East Anglia)
------------------------------
I have received no reply yet to my questions. Are they too hard to
answer, too trivial, or you have sent an answer but it got lost somehow
before I received it?
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Chris N.