Originally Posted by grecoaj

Filing any kind of flight plan has nothing to do with the conditions of the flight, as logged.

61.51 g 1: A person may log instrument time only for that flight time when the person operates the aircraft solely by reference to instruments under actual or simulated instrument flight conditions.

Anyone have a definition for instrument flight conditions? It might have something to do with cloud clearance and visibility being less than those required for VFR. I'm assuming you operated the aircraft for some amount of time solely by reference to the instruments. If you feel that the conditions you were in were considered instrument flight conditions, then could you not log the instrument time?

The following is a portion snipped from an FAA legal opinion document referenced by smugglersblues:

"..."Actual" instrument flight conditions occur when some outside conditions make it necessary for the pilot to use the aircraft instruments in order to maintain adequate control over the aircraft. Typically, these conditions involve adverse weather conditions.

To answer your first question, actual instrument conditions may occur in the case you described a moonless night over the ocean with no discernible horizon, if use of the instruments is necessary to maintain adequate control over the aircraft. The determination as to whether flight by reference to instruments is necessary is somewhat subjective and based in part on the sound judgment of the pilot. Note that, under Section 61.51(b)(3), the pilot must log the conditions of the flight. The log should include the reasons for determining that the flight was under actual instrument conditions in case the pilot later would be called on to prove that the actual instrument flight time logged was legitimate."