Originally Posted by
rickair7777
This post was correct in 2008 when I wrote it, but the FAA interpretation referenced above changed that.
You should be able to log night but no longer XC. Of course don't log IMC as SP.
That's not what the legal opinion states. It references a flight, a theoretical posited by the submitter, in which the safety pilot has acted as safety pilot for only a portion of the flight. A flight with multiple legs in which the safety pilot acts in that capacity for the duration of the legs, including approaches and landings (it's done; zero zero simulated takeoffs and landings with safety pilot or instructor), the legal interpretation does not prohibit logging of cross country for a safety pilot.
The rationale in the interpretation isn't about making a takeoff or landing, it's about acting as a required crew member for the duration of a flight. On a multiple-leg flight with each leg more than 50 nm from the point of origin, cross country time may be loggable for each segment. If the safety pilot is a required crew member for one or two segments, but not all, those segments for which the safety pilot remains a required crew member for the entire segment (not just a part) may be logged as cross country. Nothing in the legal interpretation prohibits this, but in fact, the interpretation supports it.
Note the relevant language: "
However, Pilot B may not log any cross-country flight time because that pilot was a required flight crewmember for only a portion of the flight."