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FAA passenger night currency and safety pilots? (self.flying)

submitted 1 year ago by rexxit to c/flying

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Asking here because I no longer have a Reddit account: if a safety pilot is a required crew member and one or both pilots are not night current, is it legal to fly after the end of civil twilight?

I could argue it isn't because there are phases of flight where no safety pilot is required (taking off and landing) and therefore they are a passenger. Is that a correct interpretation of the regs?

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[–] rexxit 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But the acting PIC / sole manipulator must be night current during operation at night while not under the hood, because the safety pilot would be a passenger during that time, right?

[–] vatlark 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I think whoever is Acting PIC will need to be night current, because like you said at some point in the flight the other person is a passenger. I don't think it matters which person is current, but whoever it is will need to be the Acting PIC.

I don't think the Acting PIC needs to be the sole manipulator, so the other person can manipulate the controls even during takeoff and landing. The person manipulating the controls is the one that gets to log the PIC time per 61.51(e). If an accident were to happen it would be the responsibility of the Acting PIC, so letting other people manipulate the controls is a risk for them.

For the logging PIC vs Acting PIC I like this: https://express.adobe.com/page/fY5kNj26Vca1w/

Here is a forum with a similar question: https://www.askacfi.com/32071/maintaining-night-currency-with-a-passenger-on-board-and-the-passenger-holds-a-ppl.htm

Edit: CFIs are allowed to fly with students even if the neither of them has passenger carrying currency, because neither are considered a passenger. FAR 61.57

[–] rexxit 1 points 1 year ago

These are the details I was looking for, thank you!