I belong to a flying club. Of the many club rules, one is that the
pilot acting as PIC must be a club member. I can certainly see where
this is necessary.

However, the Chief Pilot for the club claims that the insurance
company is requiring that a safety pilot for IFR practice must also
be a club member, even when the safety pilot will *not* be acting
as PIC.

I was told that the reason behind this is that in the event of an
accident/incident, the insurance company doesn't want anyone who
was acting as a required crew member to be a non club member.

Is this normal for an insurance restriction like this? It seems to
me that this is just making it harder for the IR pilot to practice.

Thanks,