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.
