Originally Posted by
MikeB525
I heard that if you don't get paid for the flight instructing then it does not count as "commercial" time.
There are some folks who think that if you CFI for no charge, that you are still recieving compensation in the form of "loggable flight time".
The question is does that loggable time have any value? I hold that I have all the CE-172 PIC that I will ever need in my career, and the incremental value to me of any additional CE-172 time is zero.
I also limit my CFI activities to close friends and family. If you hang out at the FBO and offer free flight instruction to all comers, that could reasonably be construed as seeking out flight time as a form of compensation.
If you seriously considering this, call alpa or aopa legal and get their take.