Originally Posted by
NoyGonnaDoIt
No but it does change based on whether the safety pilot is in fact a safety pilot, which is only when the hood is on.
Read the FAA Chief Counsel's analysis in the recent opinions about safety pilot not being able to log cross country time and see what you think. They are all primarily based on the the fact that a safety pilot is only a required crewmember for a portion of the the flight - when the hood is on the other pilot.
For example.
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Pilot B was a required flight crewmember while acting as the safety pilot, but Pilot B may not log cross-country time for any portion of the flight
because Pilot B was not a required flight crewmember for the entire flight
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http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/...is%20Glenn.pdf
In addition to the result that time builders don't particularly like, the Glenn letter and its companion Gebhart letter are a pretty good review of the safety pilot rules.
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/...09/Gebhart.pdf
I've read it before and am familiar with it. The SP can't log XC time because XC is an end-to-end evolution, and the SP is (theoretically) not participating during the entire process. This actually makes sense to some degree.
But that does not make him a pax for TO and LDG...if he is a required crewmember for any part of the flight, he is required for the entire flight since it is impractical to have him leave the airplane after the hoodwork is done. What are you you going to do, give him a parachute?
Same thing with a check airman/CFI who needs to go up for a hop to observe a certain manuever. He's going to og the entire flight, even if his duties only required involvement in a particular phase of flight.
I think we'd have to ask the FAA to know for sure, but I think required for any part of the flight = required for the entire flight.