Originally Posted by
Mason32
He can not.
If he is flying as an SIC and the operators Operations Specifications require an SIC, then he can not by definition be PIC.
There is tremendous case law available on this, and a fairly well documented enforcement action involving a King Air 200 (also certified for single pilot) but the company Ops Specs required two pilots. The FO was logging time as sole manipulator of the controls on the part 91 legs. Some six months after being employed there, a minor gound incident - not with the FO controlling - resulted in the company records being looked at including the logbooks of both pilots. The FO was violated for EACH time he signed his name to a logbook page with PIC time listed for the part 91 King Air legs. His case was appealed tot he full NTSB panel, and the FAA's suspension was upheld.
The entire case, and many others, are available on the AOPA website in their legal case studies section.
Go ahead and log it if you like; but the case law is not on your side.
Very interesting, but this goes against everything i have been told at my company. (not by the company but by other pilots working there) we fly a part 91 whose OPS specify 2 pilots though two pilots are not required to fly the plane.
it seems that by majority agreement the PICs log all flight time as PIC, but the FOs have been logging SIC except for the time they are sole manipulator of the controls; for that time they are logging PIC.
as we have seen on this thread, there are those who think this is acceptable and those who dont. im not sure i know the answer either. but i put this question to you based on some other case law and written accounts of incidents i have read about in AOPA magazine: no matter who is actually the PIC and no matter who is actually at the controls, it seems that the person the NTSB goes after after an accident is the person on board with the most experience in the plane, even if that person is in the back seat without access to the flight controls; (and i put this question to my FOs) if my FO has more ratings and experience than i do, although im the PIC and theyre the SIC do they really think it is my ticket on the line or is the SIC liable to catch the blame for a mistake i make only because they have more time than i?
i can tell you, that if i stand to take the blame in any situation while i am in a plane that i am rated to fly i think i should be allowed to log that time as PIC.
i took a friend of mine flying in my plane (he has 20k+ hours) and i asked him if i were to crash the plane or bust bravo etc. who did he think the FAA or NTSB would come after. his answer was "him".