BasicMed Safety Pilot

When we got BasicMed, something wed done for a long time was taken away. BasicMed applies to acting as pilot in command. But, with BasicMed youre not legal to act as a safety pilot for your buddy whos under the hood practicing approaches in VMC. So, you exercise the workaround of agreeing ahead of time that you, the safety pilot, are indeed the PIC for this flight (more on that in a moment), then youre once again good to go even with BasicMed ... if, that is, the aircraft insurance agrees. Lets look more carefully at all this.

Frank Bowlin

Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

BasicMed pilots are legally restricted from acting as safety pilots, as BasicMed only qualifies them to be Pilot in Command (PIC), not the "required flightcrew member" a safety pilot legally constitutes.
A workaround allows BasicMed pilots to act as safety pilots by formally designating themselves as the PIC for the flight, enabling both the BasicMed pilot and the pilot under the hood to legally log PIC time under FAA regulations.
While FAA-legal, this workaround often creates an issue with aircraft insurance policies, as the BasicMed pilot acting as PIC may not meet the policy's requirements for experience or being a named insured.
Options for BasicMed pilots wanting to be safety pilots include obtaining a traditional medical certificate, ensuring they are explicitly covered by the aircraft's insurance, or risking severe consequences for insurance fraud.

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This whole BasicMed and safety pilot issue has been going around a lot lately. We’ve written about it a few times. Most recently was just in our March 2019 issue “Logging vs. Being PIC” by Mark Kolber. However, just about every time this comes up in print, we get some reader e-mail asking further about it. So, here’s all you could possibly want to know.

When we got BasicMed, something we’d done for a long time was taken away. BasicMed applies to acting as pilot in command. But, with BasicMed you’re not legal to act as a safety pilot for your buddy who’s under the hood practicing approaches in VMC. So, you exercise the workaround of agreeing ahead of time that you, the safety pilot, are indeed the PIC for this flight (more on that in a moment), then you’re once again good to go even with BasicMed … if, that is, the aircraft insurance agrees. Let’s look more carefully at all this.