I was.
I was asked as a courtesy to give a cursory flight check to an individual. He wanted to fly a club's 172. He had 172 time, and had been checked out in their 150, 152, and 182. The company needed a 172 ferried to another point, and asked this individual to do it, for no cost, with the added benifit that his checkout would be conducted at the same time. I was asked to go along.
I required the normal things, and with the exception of an actual crosswind landing, he executed them all satisfactorily. (There was no wind that day). No logbook signature was required, instruction was not provided. However, I made a note in his logbook showing that he had satisfactorily demonstrated competency in the 172, and the circumstances of the flight. The only thing required was a note in the company roladex that he had demonstrated competency in the 172. I initialled it.
A year and a half later, he totalled one of that companies 172's in a crosswind landing at a remote airstrip. He was flying out of currency. He did not have his 90 day currency, nor did he have a current flight review. He did not have a current medical certificate. He was flying in conditions beyond his capabilities, and did unwise things to cause the accident.
The company contacted me and told me that the insurance had refused to pay. They asked me to falsify a log entry, and backdate it showing that I had given this pilot a flight review on the day in question. I refused. I was told that the matter would be suborogated to me, as mine was the last signature in the logbook. Tough cookies.
I was successful on all counts, largely because of very detailed record keeping on my part, both in the form of student records, and comments and notes in my own logbook. Among those notes, I was clearly able to recall the language used when I specifically informed the NIQ (nimrod in question) that he would still require currency in landings and a flight review, as well as a current medical certificate to act as pilot in command of the 172.
After presenting my documentation, the legal beagles went sniffing elsewhere, and I never ended up in court. However, had they decided to do so, I'm guessing there would easily have been a good chance that my sorry hide would be tatooed to the courtroom door for inability to make payments the size of the titanic.
Is there liability in instruction? You betcha. It doesn't end with the next flight review, or the next practical test, either.
