I heard, for the first time today, about people timeshare training. Specifically, I found a flight school that timeshares a good deal of Instrument and CPL training by pairing two students up for solos, and using instructors for only the required time periods in the respected FAR's (the students can purchase more instructor time if they feel they need it).

Has anyone ever heard of this? What are your thoughts about it?

For example: one pilot working towards their instrument is paired with an instrument rated pilot working towards their CPL. To build time, the Instrument student flies under the hood, the CPL student flies as a safety pilot.
Both pilots can claim this flight time as PIC, and they share the cost of the wet rental.

ATP's did this for a long time, an instructor, a student under the hood and a safety pilot all logging time. FAA nixed that AFAIK. You can't share time on a solo, that's why it's called solo.

So, what if I received my PPL, and flew with an instrument rated pilot who was not logging the time? So far as at some point I have a minimum of 15 hours with a CFII, and I pass the requisite knowledge test, I can't see where this is not legal. Realistically, it might be that more hours are needed with an instructor, but would that still qualify?

So, I believe that I may have answered my own question. A 2009 interpretation of this FAR by the FAA Chief Counsel allows for time sharing provided that the "safety pilot" only logs the hours during the portion of the flight in which simulated IFC conditions exist, and their presence was necessary. See the Gebhart interpretation here:

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/pol_adjudication/agc200/interpretations/data/interps/2009/gebhart%20-%20(2009)%20legal%20interpretation.pdf

So, as I read this and FAR 61.65, I interpret this as saying:
25 hours of simulated IFR training may be accomplished independently with a safety pilot, and credited toward the 40 hour minimum.
Of this 25 hours, all may be cross-country with a 50nm minimum between airfields to meet the 50nm prerequisite.
The safety pilot may log time in which they are PIC during simulated instrument conditions.


Am I thinking right here? Sharing the flight with someone other than an instructor could really lower the cost of training. It could even be cheaper in some cases than renting an AATD, which makes no sense for those making the leap from PPL to Instrument as all hours basically need to be cross-country. Right?