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:

While student pilots cannot legally act as pilot in command with passengers, back-seat observers are permitted during dual instruction (with the flight instructor as PIC) and can offer valuable experience in weight and balance or observational learning.
The presence of back-seat passengers, whether other students, parents, or children, requires clear communication from the flight instructor to define their role and prevent distractions or disruptions.
Flight instructors must always obtain the paying student's consent before allowing an observer, and effective passenger management involves comprehensive safety briefings, setting clear expectations for behavior, and being prepared to terminate the flight if passengers become uncomfortable.

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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.