Right seat flying

Matt Whiting wrote:
I heard back from Amy. As I stated above, she was referring
specifically to a student pilot and apparently the "sole manipulator"
rule prohibits a non-instructor pilot from allowing a student pilot to
manipulate the controls as this would constitute the student pilot
carrying a passenger. However, I don't see why this would matter which
seat you were sitting in. If this is illegal, seems it would be as
illegal to have the student in the right seat. It also seems odd that
you can let a non-student handle the controls and be legal, but can't
let a student pilot legally fly when you are in the airplane.

That, of course, is even crazier. There is no rule that prevents
a non-instructor pilot from letting someone else manipulate the
controls, or even takeoff and land the plane. The "sole manipulator"
rule applies to logging time (and even with that there was some
odd letter from the FAA implying that if there were no one else
on board who could possibly be PIC, you could log the time that
a passenger was manipulating the controls).

A student isn't "carrying a passenger" if he or she manipulates
the controls when someone else is PIC. The PIC is responsible
for the plane and the passenger no matter who is at the controls.

--
David Rind