On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 9:47:49 AM UTC-8, jp wrote:
On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 2:52:30 AM UTC-8, IADPE wrote:
Keep in mind that any flight time acquired before being rated in the aircraft is either Dual Received or Solo Time- NOT PIC. To log PIC, you must be at least a Light Sport, Recreational, or Private Pilot in that Category and Class. Flight Time in any Category and Class counts toward the Aeronautical Experience Total Flight Time requirement.

This may just be angels dancing on the head of a pin but a student may log PIC when flying solo with a current solo endorsement. The student is the only one in the airplane after all. The student is not yet certificated and is not yet rated for the aircraft yet can log the time as PIC.

That "PIC" has two operational meaning is a source of confusion for many of us. "PIC" as in the sole operator of the controls and "PIC" as in the one responsible for the safety of the flight - whether using the controls or not. I gather this is one of the reasons a CFI can log a student training flight as PIC even when the student is the only one on the controls for the entire lesson flight.

And, even though a student pilot with a current solo endorsement can log PIC when flying solo that flight time can be used only to fulfill the flight experience requirements for the private pilot certificate, not for any subsequent certificates the pilot might go on to acquire - according to the FAA Chief Counsel anyway.

Here is a segment from an FAA comment on this:

"A student pilot can now log PIC. That’s new, and since there is no restriction, your logbook can be updated so that all student solo time prior to August 4, 1997 may be logged as PIC. When an instructor is aboard, since the student is not rated in the aircraft, flight instruction is still logged as dual not PIC."