Mike Murdock wrote:
: But if a pilot wants, they may allow any person to handle
: the controls, but then neither may log that time.

: As I understand it, the person ACTING as Pilot In Command may always log the
: time (as total time and PIC time), whether that person is sole manipulator
: of the flight controls or not. More than one person can certainly log PIC
: time, but I can't think of a circumstance when nobody can log PIC time.

That is most certainly *NOT* my interpretation up until a few days ago. There
are some inconsistencies between the regulations (FAR 61.51) and the letter of the
FAA from 1977:
http://www.propilot.com/doc/bbs/msgs//11672.html

I used to think that since there is a clear distinction between acting as PIC
and logging PIC time in the FARs, that there was no way the acting PIC can log PIC
time if a non-pilot was manipulating the controls. One could make the argument that
flipping on an autopilot is "manipulating the controls," but if the FARs say that if
someone else is manipulating the controls, the acting PIC cannot log PIC time.
Furthermore, the non-pilot manipulating the controls cannot log the time since they do
not have a category/class rating. If that person *does* have a category/class rating
they can log the time even though they cannot act as PIC (e.g. no medical, no BFR,
no complex endorsement, etc)

Where it gets funky is what the poster in
http://www.propilot.com/doc/bbs/msgs//11672.html suggests. The "broad-painted brush"
of the official FAA letter says:
"Also, a pilot, rated in category and class (e.g. airplane single-engine) could, as
the pilot who "Has final authority and responsibility for the operation and safety of
the flight" log PIC time if another pilot, not appropriately rated, was actually
manipulating the controls of the aircraft." As the poster surmised, one could take
that to the conclusion that a non-complex-endorsed (but category/class-rated) pilot
could log PIC time for manipulating the controls of a complex aircraft AND the
complex-endorsed pilot acting as PIC.

Crap... I *thought* I understood this whole thing. If it weren't for the
letter, letting grandma or Fido fly means (according to the literal FARs) that
*nobody* can log PIC.

-Cory

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************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
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