Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Tailwheel safety pilot with no tailwheel endorsement?

Asked by: 1623 views FAA Regulations

I have a friend who has their PPL with tailwheel endorsement and they own a c185 taildragger. They asked me to be a safety pilot while they wear foggles to log some approaches. I have my CPL but I do not have a tailwheel endorsement. If my friend is PIC and does the take off and landings can I log time while acting PIC as safety pilot? or how can this work? what time can I log? any feed back appreciated!

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Sep 10, 2022

    You don’t need the endorsement to be the safety pilot, but you do need it to act as PIC. All a safety pilot requires is that they are at least private pilot rated in the class and category and because they are a required crew member, they need to hold a medical. To act as PIC for the C185, one also needs the endorsements for high performance and tail wheel. You must also be current IAW 61.57 for a tail wheel aircraft.

    According to the 2009-12-01 Glenn FAA General Counsel opinion you may log SIC for the portion of the flight you are the safety pilot, see the quote below:

    “When a pilot is operating an aircraft in simulated instrument flight, 14 C.F.R. § 91.109(b), in
    relevant part, requires that a safety pilot, who possesses at least a private pilot certificate
    with category and class ratings appropriate to the aircraft, occupy the other control seat.
    Accordingly, Pilot B may log SIC time for the portion of the flight during which Pilot B acts
    as safety pilot because Pilot B was a required flight crewmember for that portion of the
    flight under § 91.1 09(b).”

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.