In article ,
Jose wrote:

So, you (a regular private pilot) go up in a 172 with a friend who is
not a pilot, you let him take the controls while you very carefully
supervise her, and you can't log the time PIC.


That's right. Not only that, but you've probably broken FAR 91.13 by
letting a person without a valid pilot certificate fly the plane.

You break 91.13 at the FAA's discretion. But I see nothing careless or
reckless unless I take a nap.

As you yourself observed, what you see doesn't matter. It's what the
FAA sees that counts.

The next day you fly a
Cirrus by programming the CID (Cirrus Autoflight Device) and pushing the
GO button, essentially become a passenger while the glass cockpit does
the work, and all that time goes in your book as PIC.


That's right, because you're still responsible if the CID goes belly-up.

You're still responsible if the organic autopilot goes awry too.

Yes, but to legally take on that responsibility "on the record" requires
an instructor's certificate.

I think this structuring of the rules is deliberate and not just an
oversight. It would have been easy enough to say that a pilot can log
PIC any time he is acting as PIC, but they apparently went to a lot of
effort not to say that. I think this was a deliberate attempt to
arrange things in such a way that turning over the controls to Aunt
Tillie is not explicitly banned, but that if you choose to do so and
anything goes wrong as a result (even in retrospect) they can nail your
ass to the wall.

There are actually other circumstances under which someone acting as PIC
can't log the time. For example, if an unlicensed passenger in a plane
where the pilot is incapacitated takes over and lands the plane then
that passenger is PIC operating (presumably) under the authority of
91.3(b). But he still can't log the time.

rg