Always Remember to Mind Your Passengers

Having passengers in the back seat gives the learner an opportunity to practice and apply weight-and-balance calculations.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 08:00 PM ET

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Carrying passengers - especially young ones - can come with challenges. [Credit: Shutterstock/Jazmin Gonzalez]

Key Takeaways:

Back-seat passengers are legally permitted during dual flight lessons (with the instructor as PIC) and offer valuable learning opportunities for students, such as practicing weight-and-balance and observing other lessons.
While beneficial, passengers, especially family members, require clear boundaries and expectations to avoid disruption; instructors must manage their behavior to maintain a productive learning environment.
CFIs should always ask the paying learner for consent before allowing an observer, as learners may object or request cost-sharing, highlighting the need to respect the primary student's experience.
Effective passenger management involves clearly defining their role as observers, conducting thorough safety briefings, and being prepared to terminate a flight if passengers become uncomfortable or disruptive.

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One of the first questions I ask a private pilot candidate is, “Who will your first passenger be?” Most often, it is a family member. We talk about the limitation noted in FAR 61.89 that states carriage of passengers is not permitted by student pilots since they cannot legally act as pilot in command (PIC) in an aircraft with passengers. However, during dual lessons the flight instructor is the PIC, therefore, if your aircraft has a back seat, you could legally carry a passenger.

Having a passenger in the back seat gives the learner/pilot the opportunity to practice and apply weight-and-balance calculations and to experience what a heavier airplane feels like. It can be an eye-opening experience.