David Rind wrote:

The notion that a student pilot can't handle the controls
from the left seat, but an unrated passenger can seems
beyond even FAA illogic. Similarly, the notion that
it would be okay if the student were in the right seat, but
a problem from the left seat seems completely crazy.

My guess is that this was just part of a collection of evidence trying to
establish the pilot's intent. I know nothing about this particular case,
but let's assume that you have the following:

1. There are two people in the plane.
2. The student pilot owns the plane.
3. The other occupant is a licensed private pilot, but not an instructor.
4. The other occupant's logbook shows that he has never been PIC of this
plane before.
5. The other occupant is not on the insurance for the plane.

Now, imagine that you're an investigator, and your job is to decide the
student pilot's actual intent. Obviously, there's nothing illegal about
flying from the right seat, but when you put that together with the other
evidence, it might be enough to convince you that the student pilot was, in
fact, intending to fly as PIC in the left seat.

This is purely hypothetical, of course, since I don't know the details of
the actual case, but if something like this did happen, it would be a gross
overreaction to say that the FAA had ruled that flying from the right seat
was illegal. It's similar to a case where an accused burgler was seen
driving slowly past your house the day before a robbery -- there's nothing
illegal about driving slowly past a house, but together with other evidence
(such as fingerprints, lack of alibi, or possession of some stolen
property), it can help to convince a judge or jury that the accused person
is actually guilty.


All the best,


David