What did they do that abides by all the FARs, but which was still something
the FAA didn't like?

I don't know. I was not standing up for the =use= of the careless or
reckless rule, rather explaining how (IMHO) it is intended to be used.

I would speculate that the FAA didn't like (or rather, were I the FAA, I
wouldn't like) his taking a student pilot on such a spree, and having
him fly the plane. I don't like it in =this= case for a few reasons:

1: It imbues the student with a poor impression of aviation (the good
lessons the student may take away from this are a byproduct - it might
not have turned out this way). This increases the chance that the
student will learn to be careless and get away with it, at least for a
while.

2: It makes it easier for the pilot to become a passenger on his own
flight, and thus effectively abdicate the C role of being PIC.

None of these things are illegal, and on a different flight these things
might not even be an issue. They shouldn't be prohibited per se. But
on this flight it might well be considered careless or reckless, and the
FAA may use the careless or reckless rule to cover those acts.

An aside... "careless or reckless" sounds like "sort of bad, or very
bad". I don't know how one can be reckless but not careless. With the
"or" as a conjunction, "careless or reckless" can be reduced to
"careless" and come out the same. No?

Jose
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
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