"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
.. .
Sylvain wrote:
However, there are a couple of advantages with
the Wings program; for one thing, it is preferable for the CFI, for
liability reasons;

Setting aside the fact that in the U.S. anyone can sue anyone else for
just
about any reason, I am unaware of any FAA regulation that would make a CFI
responsible for the actions of a pilot they had signed off on their BFR.

It would be helpful if you could cite case law or regulations that support
your claim.

The CFI isn't responsible for the actions of a non-student pilot, however
they are responsible for fufilling all the requirements of the BFR and they
are responsible for accurate record keeping. So the applicable portion of
the FAR is 61.56 and 61.189.

It usually goes down something like this. A pilot does something stupid
like busts the class B or ADIZ and gets a free counseling session with the
FSDO. The FSDO guy looks at his logbook and says, "I see you got your last
BFR 3 weeks ago. Did your instructor say anything about airspace?"

To which the stupid pilot says, "No we really didn't talk at all. He just
looked at my logbook and we went flying."

"Hmmm, OK. I see the log entry says 0.9 hours. Is that how long you flew?"

"Oh yes, the FBO bills me for Hobbs time, so I'm sure that's correct."

So now the FSDO inspector has reason to believe the CFI didn't provide at
least 1 hour of ground training and 1 hour of flight training. Their next
call is to the CFI so he can get his free counseling session. The FSDO
reviews his records and sees that he logged 1.0 hours that day and that he
claims he provided 1 hour of ground training when clearly he did not. So
now the FSDO has him on 61.56, 61.189, and probably several other things
once they go over his records with a fine toothed comb and start talking to
other pilots he has signed off.

So the bottom line is if the CFI is doing everything he is required to do,
he has nothing to worry about if a pilot he gave a BFR screws up. However,
some CFIs that work for a FBO only get paid for flight time and not ground
training, so many of them have very little interest in doing something they
aren't getting paid for anyway. Also most CFIs I've met aren't the best
record keepers other than their own log. If the FSDO gets the impression a
CFI just pencil whipped a BFR, they aren't going to be too sympathetic
towards that CFI, and it's probably not going to be all that difficult to
find all the evidence they need to hang him. Even a minor violoation of
61.189 is enough to get a suspension and clearly willful violations can get
their CFI revoked indefinitely.