Tips on Getting Your Instrument Rating Sooner and at Lower Cost

This means that an instrument training XC trip, which is NOT on an
instrument flight plan (you don't have an instrument rating yet so you can't
file IFR as PIC) but is under the hood with an instructor as safety pilot,
can be logged as PIC XC.......so you can make the same time do double duty.


Well, sort of. You need to make this arrangement beforehand, because LOGGING
PIC time and BEING PIC are two different animals, kind of like dolphin (the
kind you eat) and dolphin (as in Flipper) are two different animals.

You can =log= PIC time as a non-instrument-rated private pilot, even under an
IFR flight plan that your instructor files, even though the instructor must
=be= PIC(*). However, you can =not= use this time as the time required under
61.65(d)(1). Though it's in your logbook as PIC (sole manipulator, or "Hands On
Time"), you were not PIC (Top Dog) on that flight. I know you didn't claim
this to be true; I state it for completeness.

You can also log PIC time if you are flying under VFR, under the hood, with the
instructor also acting as safety pilot, irrespective of who =is= PIC. This is
the case I believe you were referring to, and yes, if you and your instructor
agree that =you= (the student) are to be Top Dog on that flight, then the time
counts towards the time required under 61.65(d)(1). It might be the case that
you need to do this (for example, if the instructor's medical has lapsed, I
believe she can still give you required instruction, she just can't be Top Dog,
though this would require another current pilot in the back to act as safety
pilot, which is a required crewmember under the circumstances, which brings us
back to the pathological case referred to earlier). On the other hand, it is
also possible that the (current) instructor elects to act as Top Dog (and =be=
PIC), in which case though you could log HOT time (PIC time) you could not use
it as the time required under 61.65(d)(1). It might even be necessary (for
example, if your own medical has lapsed, though I think that in that case you
might not be able to log the time at all; 61.23 does not list "receiving flight
instruction" as an exception)

So, yes, you can make the time do double duty, but you need to read the regs
carefully. Remember, HOT time doesn't make you Top Dog, and being Top Dog
doesn't make you HOT.

Jose
==
(*) OK, there are pathological cases where a third person sitting in the back
could BE PIC, for now let's not go there.. oh, never mind, we already did.

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