"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
om...
The other trick is getting the insurance to work. Once you get past
the C-172s and get into "regular" GA planes the insurance requirements
get pretty specific.

Well, you're right it does depend on the insurance policy. But no need to
be so pessimistic. Many policies provide for pilots with some minimum
experience, rather than requiring all pilots to be named. The pilot
themself may not actually be insured, but that's their concern, not the
airplane's owner.

I've been in this exact situation, and have flown with a pilot with the
necessary experience to meet the insurance requirements in my insurance
policy, when I was not passenger current. I used the same pilot to act as
PIC when I was without my medical a couple of years ago, though in that
situation I needed to have him named on the policy temporarily so that I
could operate the airplane on the water (my policy only allows non-named
pilots to be covered as PIC for land operations). The insurance company was
friendly about the whole thing, and added the pilot without any fuss, beyond
the phone call to them to ask them to do it.

Anyway, your point is a good one, but it shouldn't scare folks off of taking
advantage of this particular method for dealing with the "who's PIC"
question. Just check the policy, and if necessary contact the insurance
company for any clarifications or requests for exceptions.

By the way...

[...] (all policies will allow a non-named CFI to give
instruction to a named).

I think if we have learned anything over the years, it's that you cannot
make a true general statement like "all policies will allow a non-named CFI
to give instruction to a named". At the very least, there may be additional
requirements for that non-named CFI spelled out in the policy, and there may
well be policies for which even the instructor needs to be named (most
likely for the more obscure types, would be my guess).

Pete