Peter wrote:
So on my EASA IR revalidation/renewal the FE is not PIC
Technically, and only if you pass, the flight is under UK rules PICUS, or under supervision. If you do not pass, heaven forbid, it would be dual.
When FCL945 was introduced, OnTrackAviation produced this useful guide, it’s not FCL to the letter or apply everywhere in EASA but it’s similar to what is used as material for FI/CRI seminars in UK, I doubt many instructors deviate much to this during SEP revalidations
https://www.ontrackaviation.com/FCL945_info_sheet.pdf local copy
I agree for refresher training & difference training & getting a rating, I just can’t see how the instructor can be PAX?
Surely a qualified pilot can log these as PIC: playing with GPS/TKS/Oxygen, aircraft/area checkouts, getting few landings, min hours on type for insurance…but these can be done with another PPL as PAX and no need for instructor but many will be reluctant with liability..
Why not just telephone your insurers and ask?
Tried that numerous times. The reply is always: “the flight must be legal”.
I have also done so numerous times in the past, and got a clear answer every time. I just tell them what we want to do, and ask if it would be covered. I have always found Haywards to be very helpful, and if they haven’t been able to answer my query they ask underwriters.
Peter wrote:
Tried that numerous times. The reply is always: “the flight must be legal”.
But maybe that’s the wrong questions. Rather than asking “Is it legal if….”, you Sebastian should ask “does my insurance cover a flight where the instructor is the pilot in command giving training to me?”.
If the insurance covers that, then there is no need for convoluted efforts to avoid the instructor being PIC.
Maybe instructor should call his insurance or ATO/Club as well 
Technically, and only if you pass, the flight is under UK rules PICUS, or under supervision. If you do not pass, heaven forbid, it would be dual.
To log PICUS under UK rules the candidate must also hold a current medical and a valid aircraft rating or equivalent privileges. UK FEH 2020, 4.6.3.
The flight with an FI is a “training flight”. Can one possibly be receiving any “training” if he is logging the flight as PIC? I would assume that for it to be a training flight one must log the time as dual, and the FI providing the training will be PIC. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Let’s turn the question around: When it comes to submitting the notice of revalidation to the corresponding NAA, they will want to know either the date of the Proficiency Check which is logged as PIC(us) OR, if it is a revalidation by experience, the date of the training flight which is logged as DUAL. What will the NAA think of a training flight that was logged as PIC and not DUAL?
Sebastian_H wrote:
I could not find a passage in the FCL that specifies that an instructor is necessarily PIC
No, but it specifies that the flight must be a training flight. To me that means dual.
My understanding of this as a CRI with FCL945 privileges is that I can only sign someone’s license for revalidation if I have performed the instructional training flight and of course the other relevant criteria are met. In order for me to conduct the instructional flight I need to be PIC and the pilot is PUT.
