You might be correct ,technically, but safety pilot time is still garbage. I once interviewed an applicant with safety time. He had 100 hours in an Apache. I asked him a few simple questions about the airplane systems that he flew for those logged hours. He didn't have a clue. It might be PIC but he sure was not in command.

Doesn't matter whether it was quality time or not, its still PIC. I would say renting a 152 and screwing around to build time would be garbage. Every interviewer is going to look at different time differently. 10 hrs of safety pilot time...not a big deal. 260 hrs of safety pilot time because you hung around the FBO offering so you can get a job with a barebones regional....garbage.

And sorry if my last post was confusing. I did not mean at all to imply that safety pilot time was like running around with your arms out. All I was saying was

1) Safety pilot time is PIC. Doesn't matter what we all think about it, it's PIC because the regs say it's PIC!

2) I CAN log anything I want in my logbook. (in response to the other poster saying we CAN log safety pilot time)

I can understand your situation... it's not an easy one... and actually it looks harder than it is.
- Is renting a 152 and building hours garbage? No. Some would venture to say it's better than a part 142 (or 141) school's simulator time.
- Is safety pilot time garbage? No. You are a required crew member and if done correctly you can log the time accordingly. 100-150hrs may be a little overboard, and you should really be logging time under the hood and having the other person be your safety pilot as much as you are for them. Something like 30-40 hrs safety pilot time may be acceptable for an examiner not to give you a hard time, but in all honesty it is time that can be logged towards total time. If you meet the other requirements of the CPL you should be ok. If you are to be a safety pilot, since you are a pilot in command, you should have an intimate knowledge of the systems and aircraft itself... which was mentioned above in another post.

You may be able cut costs by finding a less expensive FBO (perhaps one that does dry rentals) and using some money to pursue more multi-time or aerobatic time (highly suggested for a CFI or Commercial Pilot).

I believe that we both meant that an excessive amount of that kind of time is not worth it.

And what's wrong with simulator time? Probably get a whole lot more out of it than GPS direct to get some lunch at a different airport

If I log PIC as a safety pilot on a cross country, would this count towards the 50 PIC cross country hours needed for the instrument? Would it be looked down upon?

I suppose if I were the sole manipulator of the controls and had a safety pilot with me on a cross country, that flight would count towards both reference to only instruments and PIC cross country. Do you think an examiner would have a problem with this?

ya know, i dont have the regs in front of me, but i believe it says something concerning who is "conducting" the flight. I know what's legal and what's smart are two different things so i must ask

are you really so proficient at cross countries that you don't need the time required?

You are right, it is excessive time and probably best placed somewhere else.

I said "some would venture to say....", personally I believe simulators have their place... but they too can have an excessive amount of hours. Also, you don't have to do GPS direct to get some lunch at a different airport... you can do approaches, holdings, talk to ATC etc... and come across unusual situations that may help you understand things better... and then get lunch. Time in a 152 can be of great value.. it's just what you make of it.

i agree!

To the original poster...please get a set of FAR's and look up 61.65. You and your instructor need to figure out what the most efficient way is for you to get all the hours required. There's not really any guessing here, everything is spelled out. After a quick read over that reg, it looks like if you used a safety pilot for you to gain simulated instrument/cross country time, it would work. Its been a while since I was an instructor, but I believe the STL FSDO had a problem with simulated with safety pilot counting towards total instrument time. Either that or it was written in our 141 syllabus that way. I think that you are right to want to do this as cost and time efficiently as possible, but there's some prep work that is going to go into figuring out what you as a student need. Get with your instructor and

1) Read the regs
2) Create a plan
3) Run that plan past a DPE or take it over to the FSDO

Also remember that you need to do the 250 cross country, which will count for PIC.

Sounds like a good plan. Thank you