WEACLRS

Three distinct areas here -

1. PIC as defined in 14 CFR part 1.1 - ...has final authority and responsibility for the operation and safety of the flight... This is the qualified pilot who signs for the aircraft, i.e., on the rental agreement or has ownership or flight release, etc., and is designated as that pilot before or during the flight.

2. Safety pilot - a required crewmember under part 91.109(b)(1) and (2). Note nowhere in 91.109 does it say that person is PIC. Just that they have at least a PPL and are rated in category and class (no type rating required) and they have adequate vision. Part 61.51(e)(1)(iii) states a person may log PIC time when he..."is acting as pilot in command of an aircraft on which more than one pilot is required under...the regulations under which the flight is conducted" (in this case 91.109(b)). The FAA wrote this to allow for the logging of flight time by a pilot under various circumstances, of which being a safety pilot is one. But acting as PIC does not in any way relieve the pilot who is PIC responsible for the flight - part 1.1 - of his or her duties. They are two totally separate things. The FAA in written interpretations outside of the FAR's have stated that while a pilot is performing duties as a safety pilot he is acting as PIC for the purposes of 61.51, but not for the purposes of Part 1.1.

There is no requirement in 91.109(b)(1) for the person to hold high-performance and/or high altitude signoffs, again because you are not PIC (part 1.1), just a safety pilot.

3. Insurance requirements. May be anything. However, they usually apply to the PIC as defined in Part 1.1. So yes, one should check to be sure the policy covers simulated instrument flight with a safety pilot who meets the requirements of 91.109. The insurance company may have additional requirements for anyone in the role of a safety pilot for that aircraft.

One additional note. We've seen a lot of pilots coming to interviews recently with time logged as a safety pilot while building multi-engine time. There are a number of schools pushing this type of program. This is fine, just as long as it's logged correctly. We've seen a number of pilots logging the whole flight as a safety pilot, instead of just the portion of the flight in which the other pilot is under the hood. For example, if the total flight time is 2.0, then the safety pilot should only be logging in about 1.8 to 1.9. The taxi time, takeoff (unless it was performed under the hood), and landing are usually performed without the hood on, so you are not a safety pilot. We've also seen the safety pilot logging the landing. If you didn't make the landing, you can't log it. Which leads to the last problem...if you are a safety pilot building cross-country time for the purposes of your commercial certificate (that 50 hours of cross-country time) and you don't make the landing, then you can't log the cross-country time for that purpose (Part 61.1(b)(3)(ii)(B)). While your DPE at the time of your commercial checkride should catch this, we had one person come into the interview with this problem. He wasn't qualified to hold the commercial certificate because he was short the required cross-country time.