Night Currency.

[Dorsal Fin]

If I want to fly passengers at night I need to have completed the required 3 full stop landings. If I am flying Cargo for hire I am excempt from the 3 full stop landing rule. Assuming that I am flying with a person that is a pilot, (they are recieving training to get ready for a 135 job, working for the same company) in an airplane that doesn't requrie a second crew member (Navajo), and is normally operated single pilot. Does the PIC need to have the required 3 full stop landings.

I think that the real question is the second pilot a crewmember or a passenger? If they are a Passenger they landings are required, if they are a crewmember it is my belief that the landings are not required.

Any insight on this would be helpfull

Dorsal Fin

 

[midlifeflyer]

I think that the real question is the second pilot a crewmember or a passenger? If they are a Passenger they landings are required, if they are a crewmember it is my belief that the landings are not required.

You are correct about what the real question is. Not every one on board an airplane with some assigned role is a "crewmember". For the purpose of currency requirements "crewmember" means "required crewmember." There's not a lot on this, but there is a 1985 FAA Legal opinion that discusses this a bit in a slightly different context (the issue there was safety pilot qualifications - whether the Safety Pilot who acts as PIC needs to be current). Here's what they said more generally:

==============================
Both of the pilots on board an aircraft in operations requiring two pilots are crewmembers. The mere manipulation of controls, however, does not make a person a crewmember. For example, a student pilot taking lessons from a certificated flight instructor is a passenger with respect to the flight instructor and, therefore, the flight instructor must meet the recency experience requirements of Section 61.57(a), (c) and (d).
==============================

 

[Dorsal Fin]

Night Currency

So as I understand it, if I am flying with a second pilot in the airplane, as PIC at night I need to comply with 61.57(b). Night Currency.

Thanks for the clarification on this.

Mike

 

[pilotman2105]

Midlifeflyer?
Where do you get these FAA legal opinions? Are they available on the web?

The more that I'm in this business, the more that I realize it isn't the pilot's interpretation of the regs that matters. It's the FAA's, and if you fly by their rules, you're less likely to get your a$$ into hot water. Thus, being able to read and understand these opinions would help clear up a lot of inconsistencies, as well as keep me from fearing that I'm gonig to loss my wallet to the FAA so fast.

Thanks!

 

[midlifeflyer]

Midlifeflyer?
Where do you get these FAA legal opinions? Are they available on the web

No, or at least I've never been able to find an online source except for the ones that we post from time to time.

There are a couple of offline sources of the information.

The one where I get most of mine is from the Aviation Reference CD put out by Summit Aviation (http://www.summitaviation.com/). It has a ton of other information also and I find it pretty useful as a CFI.

Another good reference is Jepp's FARs Explained. It refers to a lot of the opinions and has the text of some. It's about $35 and is carried by a lot of large online pilot shops like Sporty's. Bear in nind though that for th emost part it's the author's interpretation of what the FAA Legal group and the NTSB have said the regulations mean.

The largest collection by far is a volume meant for aviation lawyers It's called "Federal Aviation Decisions: Chief Counsel Interpretations Civil Penalty Decisions" and it's put out by West Publishing Company for about $600.00 plus the subscription cost of updates. Most law libraries =don't- carry it since aviation law is not a popular specialty.