Flying buddy and I were talking the other day and I wanted to get some other opinions. He works at a large flight school with there own Mx and they from time to time ask him to run the airplane after it is returned to service. Often, dependent upon the mx done, he sits in the run up area and runs it for 15-20 minutes with a mechanic in the plane. Is it okay to log this although there was never intent to fly? Just seems kind of desperate to me and I was curious if this is frowned upon at a 121 interview? Opinions are appreciated in advance

No, you cannot log that. If I were him, I would request that I get to take any such airplane for one lap around the pattern...then it would be OK.

If it's just a run up, then it's not loggable. If he goes out with the intent to fly and subsequently returns to the ramp after a bad magneto check, then that time can be logged.

Thank you...

MAN! I wish I could have logged all the time I sat in the marshal area waiting for a flight member to work maintenance issue (or I worked my own maintenance issue)

USMCFLYR

This is incorrect.

14 CFR 1.1

Flight time means:
(1) Pilot time that commences when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to rest after landing

You can't land when you never left the ground.

True. Airline pilots have to track block time on a return-to-gate because it counts against your flight time limits, but even so we should not log it towards total time.