"Thomas Borchert" wrote in message
...
What evidence is there as to what he did or didn't do?

The plane flew where it flew.

For the reasons I already enumerated, that's not good evidence as to the
student-pilot passenger's actions or competence. The passenger could've just
been taking a nap, which wouldn't have been improper. Or he could've been
making correct navigational suggestions that the PIC didn't follow. Or even
if the passenger tried to help navigate but was lost too, there's no
evidence that he'd reached the point in his training where he should be
expected to navigate reliably; we don't know if he'd even been signed off
for solo cross-country flight yet.

It's quite unwarranted to hold a student-pilot passenger partly responsible
for errors by the PIC involving skills that may be beyond the passenger's
current training. Fortunately, the FAA and AOPA are being fair-minded about
it--they're strongly criticizing the PIC, but praising the passenger.

--Gary