Soloing student pilots are PILOT IN COMMAND.

Well, sorta. They're not rated. Would a non-pilot who stole an airplane be
"pilot in command" and be able to log it as such? (yes, he can log anything,
but would those hours count toward ratings?)

(and yes, being and logging are different, I'm using this difference to
contrast to the "acting" vs "serving" question.

Jose

(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)