Logging vs. Being PIC

You are an instrument-rated private pilot. Your friend is working on the rating and you have acted as her safety pilot while she practices under the hood. Shes doing great. Today ceilings are high but below final approach fix altitudes. You feel comfortable filing IFR as pilot in command while she flies, so you file and off you go in the clubs 172. No hood for your friend today. She does all the flying. Two approaches, with 12 minutes in actual instrument conditions. She did well.

Mark Kolber

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

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Key Takeaways:

FAR 61.51 establishes that "acting as pilot in command" and "logging pilot-in-command flight time" (PICFT) are independent concepts, with logging based on specific regulatory criteria or "boxes" rather than solely on who holds ultimate responsibility for the flight.
A pilot rated for the aircraft who is the sole manipulator of its controls may log all flight time as PICFT, even if they lack additional ratings (e.g., instrument rating) or endorsements required to legally act as the pilot in command for that specific operation.
In scenarios requiring more than one pilot (e.g., a safety pilot during simulated instrument flight), both the sole manipulator and the acting PIC safety pilot can legitimately log PICFT, as each may fulfill different 61.51 logging criteria.
This can lead to counter-intuitive situations, such as the instrument-rated pilot acting as the official Pilot In Command (PIC) logging no time, while a non-instrument rated pilot who is the sole manipulator logs PICFT and actual instrument time.

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You are an instrument-rated private pilot. Your friend is working on the rating and you have acted as her safety pilot while she practices under the hood. She’s doing great. Today ceilings are high but below final approach fix altitudes. You feel comfortable filing IFR as pilot in command while she flies, so you file and off you go in the club’s 172. No hood for your friend today. She does all the flying. Two approaches, with 12 minutes in actual instrument conditions. She did well.

Back on the ground, the logbooks come out. How does she log the flight time? How do you?