In the airlines, part 121, the PIC is designated and remains
PIC even on the potty or asleep.



--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


"Big John" wrote in message
...
| If I'm riding in back of a 747, can I be PIC? Seems some
on this
| thread have taken that poition.
|
| Big John
| `````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```
|
| On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:20:35 GMT, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
| wrote:
|
| Pilot claims no blame in July crash
|
| By Andrew Dys
| The Herald
|
|
http://www.heraldonline.com/local/st...-5022727c.html
|
| The Ohio man who federal officials say was the pilot in a
Rock Hill plane crash
| claims he is being wrongly blamed for the July accident,
which left two other
| men dead.
| Matthew Sullivan, 24, of Dublin, Ohio, told federal
investigators and The Herald
| he did not remember the flight or the crash and said he
was not the pilot and
| wasn't acting as a flight instructor that day. But he did
remember the day
| leading up to the flight, he said.
|
| "I was strictly a passenger," Sullivan said in an phone
interview from Ohio,
| where he is recovering from serious injuries received in
the crash.
|
| Sullivan was one of three men on board the single-engine
plane, which crashed
| July 24 in a subdivision off Rawlinson Road, nearly one
mile from the Rock
| Hill/York County Airport. The others on board, Rock Hill
native Eric Johnson and
| Ohio dentist Bill Coulman, died.
|
| Johnson was coming to Rock Hill for a Northwestern High
School class reunion,
| and Coulman owned the plane.
|
| Federal regulators reported that fuel mismanagement by
the pilot was likely
| responsible for the crash. The mismanagement "resulted in
fuel starvation and
| subsequent loss of engine power," a National
Transportation Safety Board report
| states.
|
| The NTSB identifies the pilot as Sullivan, who was
sitting in the right front
| seat of the plane and was the only one on board rated to
fly under instrument
| flight rules. The plane flew on instrument flight rules
until changing to visual
| flight rules four miles from the airport.
|
| Instrument flight rules flying requires a higher
licensing level and radio
| contact between the plane and airport alerting the
airport of the impending
| landing, federal officials have said.
|
| But Sullivan said he was invited by Coulman to be a
passenger on the flight.
| Sullivan said he had known Coulman for about a year but
met Johnson for the
| first time that morning at the Ohio State Airport in
Columbus.
|
| Sullivan said he did not know he was the only one on
board with an instrument
| flight rating and was not asked to be a flight
instructor. He said he assumed
| Johnson had an instrument rating and was in charge.
|
| Coulman presented Johnson, who sat in the left front
seat, as an Air Force
| veteran and an experienced pilot, he said. "I was
picturing a 'Top Gun.'"
|
| The NTSB report describes Johnson and Coulman as "pilot
rated passengers."
| Another part of the NTSB report describes the two as
"passenger" and "student
| pilot." FAA records showed Johnson had been a licensed
pilot since 1988.
|
| Sullivan blames Coulman and Johnson.
|
| "Dr. Coulman owned the plane, filed the flight plan and
made the decision as to
| who would fly the aircraft," Sullivan wrote to the NTSB.
"Mr. Johnson actually
| flew the plane knowing he did not have the certification
or authority to do so.
| It would be an injustice to blame me (as an invited
guest) for their errors."
|
| Sullivan said he is a flight instructor by training but
was not acting as one
| that day for either Johnson or Coulman.
|
| "Matthew does not do for-hire flight instruction," his
lawyer, Joe Coulter,
| said.
|
| Another lawyer for Sullivan, aviation law specialist Mark
McDermott of
| Washington, D.C., said the government is making Sullivan
a "scapegoat" for the
| crash. Both lawyers said Sullivan is being targeted by
the federal government
| because he is the sole survivor of the crash.
|
| Federal officials declined to respond to the claims of
Sullivan and his legal
| team.
|
| The Federal Aviation Administration, which has
enforcement and pilot licensing
| authority, confirmed it investigated Sullivan but took no
action against him.
| Because there was no action taken, there is nothing for
Sullivan to appeal,
| Southern region spokesperson Kathleen Bergen said.
|
| NTSB spokesperson Lauren Peduzzi reaffirmed both agencies
show that Sullivan was
| flying the plane at the time of the accident and that the
other two were
| passengers. The NTSB, which handles crash investigations,
has closed its case
| and does not publicly respond to claims like Sullivan's,
Peduzzi said.
|
| Sullivan can appeal the NTSB ruling and is taking the
right steps to do so if he
| wants to be able to fly in the future, said Mike Hynes,
who runs a Frederick,
| Okla., aviation consulting business that does
investigations for pilots and
| their lawyers after crashes. Hynes is a former FAA
examiner with more than
| 16,000 hours of flight time.
|
| It's not surprising the FAA decided not to cite Sullivan
because, with the other
| men on board dead, it is hard to prove if he was acting
as the flight
| instructor, Hynes said.
|
| However, Hynes is not surprised the NTSB ruled Sullivan
was the flight
| instructor.
|
| "The normal rule of thumb is unless there is very clear
evidence he was not the
| flight instructor, he would be assumed to be the flight
instructor," Hynes said.
|
| The fuel selector switch is on the left part of the plane
where Johnson was
| sitting, said both Hynes and Erik Rigler of San Antonio,
Texas, another aviation
| expert who is a consultant in crashes and investigations.
|
| The pilot in command designation does not mean that
person was handling all the
| controls, Hynes said, although the right hand seat does
have access to some
| flight controls.
|
| The left front seat is generally called the pilot's seat,
Hynes said.
|
| However, Johnson, in the left front seat, couldn't be
considered the pilot in
| command if he was not instrument flight plan certified,
Hynes said. Further,
| only an instrument rated pilot is supposed to be able to
file an instrument
| flight plan, Hynes said.
|
| The question of whether an on-board flight instructor is
responsible comes up
| often, Rigler said. A flight instructor himself, Rigler
has had those concerns
| personally when flying with pilots who don't have his
high ratings.
|
| A legal battle over liability is likely, both Hynes and
Rigler said. The FAA
| taking no enforcement against Sullivan makes a very
strong case against
| liability, Rigler said.
|
| Most similar cases end up in civil courts and can take
five years or more to
| conclude, Hynes said.
|