Morgans schrieb:

What is the big F'en problem, here?

Yes, it ended well. But not everything's well that ends well. The
accident database is full of things which happened to end well 999 times
and ended as a statistic the 1000th.

There are several problems.

First problem, it's just plain illegal. Agreed, this isn't much of an
issue to me, either. I've been doing many illegal things myself. Still,
it is illegal.

Second problem, and this *is* an issue: He let the passenger handle the
controls right at the first take off. I have let passengers handle the
controls myself (yes, illegally), but always at altitude and when
workload was low. Still illegal, but no big problem. But right at the
start, it *is* an issue. This is one of the most dangerous moments of a
flight, workload is extremely high, and if the passenger screws up,
there is very little time to react. I doubt a non-instructor would be
able to save the day if the passenger just pulled back the yoke with
force, for example, or if a strong crosswind gust hits the plane at the
moment of rotation, as a second example. I can think of ten other
possibilities which overtax a non-instructor. BTW, no instructor I know
would let a student fly a take off without first having checked at safe
altitude how he handles the controls.

And third problem, there was a third party involved. I have no problem
with two guys who agree to try something stupid. If the two talk it
over, if both are aware of the risk and if both, fully informed, agree
to take that risk together, then I have no problem with it. I've been
doing this myself. But no way to involve other persons!

Stefan