Student Pilot in Command (SPIC)

Student Pilot in Command time is a defined column in the EASA pilot logbook structure (the standard EASA logbook layout in AMC1 to FCL.050). Under EASA Part-FCL FCL.010, SPIC is flight time during which the flight instructor only observes the student acting as pilot-in-command and does not influence or control the flight of the aircraft. The student is making the operational decisions — the brief, the go/no-go, the in-flight diversions, the workload management — while the instructor maintains observation and may intervene if safety requires.

SPIC is logged toward the PIC time required for license and rating issue under Part-FCL — for example, the 100 hours of flight time as PIC required for the issue of a CPL(A) under FCL.310, or the 50 hours of cross-country flight time as PIC required toward the IR(A) under FCL.620 — provided the flight was conducted with a flight instructor authorized for supervised solo flight on the relevant license track. The student logs the time as SPIC; the instructor logs it as instruction given.

SPIC is distinct from Pilot in Command Under Supervision (PICUS). PICUS is post-license: a fully licensed pilot acting as PIC on a multi-pilot aircraft during line training, supervised by a captain who carries the formal command authority. PICUS time logs to the PIC time required for ATPL issue (1,500 hours as PIC, of which up to 500 may be PICUS under FCL.510(a)(2)). SPIC is pre-license: a student building toward issuance of an initial CPL or rating.

The FAA system has no exact SPIC analogue. The closest concept is solo flight under §61.87 — a student pilot flying alone with appropriate instructor endorsements — which is logged as PIC under §61.51(d). The structural difference is that FAA solo time has the instructor on the ground (with currency endorsements covering the operation) while EASA SPIC time has the instructor in the right seat as a non-influencing observer. The logging effect is similar (both count toward PIC totals) but the operational arrangement is different.

For EASA ATOs running CPL/IR/MEP integrated programs, SPIC time is operationally significant. A cadet's PIC progression toward CPL minimums depends materially on SPIC — early cross-country flights, instrument training cross-countries, and multi-engine PIC time all typically include SPIC components. Schools that fail to track SPIC distinctly from dual-instruction time produce logbooks that an EASA examining authority will reject at license-issue review.

The operational subtlety is that SPIC depends on the instructor's behavior, not just the seating arrangement. An instructor who is talking the student through the approach, pointing out traffic, suggesting power adjustments — is not in SPIC mode, even if the student is nominally flying. An instructor who is silent and observing while the student handles the radio, manages the workload, and makes the real decisions — is in SPIC mode. The grading and logbook entry have to match what actually happened in the cockpit, not what the lesson plan said would happen.

Within Aviatize specifically, this concept is operationalized as SPIC — the user-facing field name in the platform — which aligns with the EASA logbook convention and the customer base's working terminology even where some EASA documents use slightly different phrasing.

Aviatize's training management module supports the SPIC logging convention as a first-class lesson configuration. Lessons that include planned SPIC time are configured with SPIC as the logging mode, and post-lesson grading captures whether the SPIC arrangement was actually executed (instructor non-intervening) or whether the lesson reverted to dual instruction because of student performance or operational conditions. The student's logbook entry reflects what actually happened, with the regulatory-correct allocation between SPIC and dual time.

For the chief instructor and Head of Training, SPIC progression is a leading indicator of cadet readiness for solo cross-country and for skill-test recommendation. The platform aggregates each student's SPIC build alongside dual instruction and solo time, surfacing students whose SPIC ratio is low (suggesting they are not being given the in-the-loop command authority they need to develop) and students whose SPIC progression is accelerating cleanly (suggesting they are tracking toward checkride readiness). For license-issue purposes, the logbook export presents the SPIC totals in the structure the EASA competent authority expects to see, eliminating the after-the-fact reconstruction that paper-based EASA logbook management requires.