Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
The 250 hours of PIC/SIC in airplanes must have been obtained after receiving FAA airplane privileges (or as a rated military pilot flying fixed wing aircraft). It need not be after the private pilot add-on, if you did one. It begins with solo; if you're soloing under an instructor endorsement in an airplane, you're able to log PIC experience in airplanes, and that time counts toward your total of 250 hours.
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That is not correct advice. I stole the below excerpt from another site but I verified it with the regs and it's pretty clear.
A pilot may log PIC time when he/she is the sole occupant of the aircraft; is the sole manipulator of the controls of an
aircraft for which the pilot is rated; or is acting as PIC where more than one pilot is required (FAR 1.1, 61.51 [e]).
Rated, by FAA interpretation, means that the pilot has the appropriate category, class, and type (if required) privileges on his/her pilot certificate for the aircraft being operated. A solo endorsement doesn't let you log anything PIC if you don't have a rating for that cat/class/type except when you are the sole occupant of the aircraft.