There was in the mission editor also a way to make some static ships playable or not...... 
i've read that somewhere..........
Eemshoorn
I think you are confusing that with changing the controller type. That is explained in the Mission Editor Notes.
In the Mission Editor, A ship’s control type—Player, AI, or Static—can be changed at any point in the mission. You have seen that done in many of the campaign missions.
An AI or Static ship an be converted to a player ship, but the player can’t control it unless it exists as a Player ship—with a bridge and other useful stuff—in SSE.
Example: You are leaving port in a cargo ship when suddenly you find yourself on the pilot boat with the objective of overtaking the cargo ship and returning the pilot. What about the cargo ship? When you left her she was heading at full speed toward a point of land. When you catch up to her, she has altered course and is slowing for the transfer.
The cargo ship was converted to an AI ship with a safe goal and speed commands. That put you on the next available player ship—the pilot boat. When you transfer back aboard the cargo ship, she has been switched from AI to Player. The pilot boat is switched to AI, and goes home.
The cargo ship could only become a drivable player ship because she had been one.
A while back, I posted an example where you are driving the cutter on the Solent when she switches to AI and goes up to Southampton on Autopilot. You can wander around her but you can’t control her until she becomes a player ship upon reaching Southampton VTS.
