Dan & netters, The information you are sharing is what is typical of the regs and the way that things are published by the FAA. Often times the wording will be in order to act as Pilot in Command, you do or do not need something. However, to BE actual Pilot in Command you must have this or that. The technicality being that in one case you are performing the duties of Pilot in Command, so you can log it and so forth. However, someone else was actually PIC, like a flight instructor. You are logging experience as PIC but the actual PIC of the flight is the instructor. You don't have to have a pilot's license to fly an experimental, but to carry passengers minimum Private Pilot's License. You don't have to have a taildragger endorsement to fly a conventional geared experimental, but if during certification the inspector requires those remarks be in your POH, than you can ACT as PIC as long as someone is PIC. But you cannot be the PIC, unless endorsed or rated. The FAA cannot ground an airplane according to the regs and Inspectors. However, they can tag a plane as having un-airworthy conditions, and if you fly that plane they can violate you. But they did not ground the plane, only a PIC can. It seems like talking out of both sides of your face, but that is why it can be difficult to interpret the regs because in one place it states you can, but somewhere else it says that you cannot. I believe that the reason they did this is to allow someone to log PIC time that is rated in the Class of airplane, but not that particular type or model, so that they could act as PIC for the purposes of experience giving credit for who was actually doing the flying, yet the person was not signed off or rated so they could not rent or buy the plane and legally go fly by themselves or with passengers.
Colin & Bev Rainey KR2(td) N96TA Sanford, FL crain...@cfl.rr.com or crbrn9...@hotmail.com http://kr-builder.org/Colin/index.html