Let a friend fly the plane. Legal?

wrote in message
...
Mike Murdock wrote:
: But if a pilot wants, they may allow any person to handle
: the controls, but then neither may log that time.

: As I understand it, the person ACTING as Pilot In Command may always log
the
: time (as total time and PIC time), whether that person is sole
manipulator
: of the flight controls or not. More than one person can certainly log
PIC
: time, but I can't think of a circumstance when nobody can log PIC time.

That is most certainly *NOT* my interpretation up until a few days ago.
There
are some inconsistencies between the regulations (FAR 61.51) and the
letter of the
FAA from 1977:
http://www.propilot.com/doc/bbs/msgs//11672.html

I used to think that since there is a clear distinction between acting as
PIC
and logging PIC time in the FARs, that there was no way the acting PIC can
log PIC
time if a non-pilot was manipulating the controls.

Crap... I *thought* I understood this whole thing. If it weren't for the
letter, letting grandma or Fido fly means (according to the literal FARs)
that
*nobody* can log PIC.

You've got it right. The FAA's legal opinion contradicts 61.51e. But at
least the error is in our favor--that is, it removes a restriction rather
than imposing one.

--Gary