Martin wrote:
EIR would allow you to fly by yourself but only instrument flight time counts for CB-IR, not IFR.
Wrong.
(i) When the applicant has:
(A) completed instrument flight instruction provided by an IRI(A) or an FI holding the privilege to provide training for the IR; or
(B) prior flight time under IFR as PIC on aeroplanes, under a rating providing the privileges to fly under IFR and in IMC
these hours may be credited towards the 40 hours above up to maximum of 30 hours
Interesting, latest consolidated version says:
(i) When the applicant has:
(A) completed instrument flight instruction provided by an IRI(A) or an FI holding the privilege to provide training for the IR; or
▼M4
(B) prior experience of instrument flight time as PIC on aeroplanes, under a rating providing the privileges to fly under IFR and in IMC,
▼M3
these hours may be credited towards the 40 hours above up to maximum of 30 hours,
AFAIK the only amendment that isn’t incorporated is 2016/539 and I didn’t see anything about this in there. M4 above is the 2015/445. It has been in force for more than a year.
Martin wrote:
EIR would allow you to fly by yourself but only instrument flight time counts for CB-IR, not IFR….
Interesting, I’ll take your word for it and yet it is (50hrs) PIC under the IFR that counts for attaining a CBIR on the basis of an existing third country ICAO IR…
Otherwise, it would be more cost-effective to just pay an instructor.
Or fly under the hood with a safety pilot?
AnthonyQ wrote:
Or fly under the hood with a safety pilot?
I would imagine so (since EASA IR doesn’t have rolling currency, I never thought about it – normally, you wouldn’t even log instrument flight time outside of training, only IFR; well, until this came). Cost-wise, it would depend on how much you’re paying for that safety pilot.
The conversion is interesting. I vaguely recall they originally wanted instrument flight time, not IFR. Which is much more stringent requirement. I also recall they wanted 100 hours, not 50. Coincidentally, the requirement for validation of a foreign IR is 100 hours of instrument flight time as PIC. Which is a huge difference and it makes sense to have these aligned. But then obviously something happened, instrument flight time became IFR and 100 became 50. Only they forgot there is also validation that has comparatively draconian requirements.
Or fly under the hood with a safety pilot?
Surely there is no scenario where a (NON instructor) safety pilot has ANY meaning for logging time, in EASA-land or FAA-land? *
The 30hrs which can be done outside an FTO can be done with a freelance IRI, or various other “things” above that. So that can be a big money-saver especially if you have a friend who is an IRI.
I don’t think the “validation” is worth anything except it has the effect of adding a year to whatever the “EASA FCL N-reg attack” compliance date is. So, currently, you can apply for it in April 2017 and get another year. You say you are “working” on the EASA papers. This is what is “known” in the bizjet world, anyway.
* Except where medically mandated e.g. I know a pilot who turned up at his medical having had some tests during the previous year, and even though he thought he was sorted out, the CAA was not happy he had enough tests done so he has to do some more tests and (sadly he is getting it done on the NHS so it will take months) in the meantime he is not allowed to fly solo but has to have a co-pilot who has to be rated and insured PIC on that plane. This is a result of it being impossible to speak to an EASA AME in confidence.
Peter wrote:
Surely there is no scenario where a (NON instructor) safety pilot has ANY meaning for logging time, in EASA-land or FAA-land?
This concept is rather alien to me under EASA rules so I don’t really know how it works. The issue is compounded by the rules for logging time being just AMC/ GM. You just have to accurately log it. Whether anyone will count it for the issue of a licence is an entirely different question. I don’t recall any mention of a safety pilot (as far as logging flight time is concerned) and EASA regs don’t have that “sole operator” bit IIRC.
Under FAA AFAIK there is a scenario where both of you can log PIC time – if the safety pilot is acting as a PIC (since this requires two pilots; he is then legaly responsible) and you’re the sole operator of controls (as long as you’re rated for it). If the safety pilot isn’t acting as a PIC, he can log SIC. That’s fairly well known since this has a practical application (rolling currency).
Peter wrote:
You say you are “working” on the EASA papers.
I don’t think saying it is enough since the date of enrollment is important. But not for the first year, only when you want an extension.
Peter wrote:
Surely there is no scenario where a (NON instructor) safety pilot has ANY meaning for logging time, in EASA-land or FAA-land? *
If the OP already has an EIR then he can be PIC under the IFR….however I asked the question because it was indicated in a subsequent post (Martin post #32) that he needed to log actual IMC time (10 more hours) as part of the requirement to step up to the full IR. So if he can’t find actual IMC while he is legally flying IFR, then my question was could he log “instrument time” if he was under the hood with a suitably qualified pilot (not necessarily an instructor) in the right seat….
I don’t think you can do that, Europe or USA – because in a single pilot aircraft there can be only one PIC. And only the PIC can log time. The PIC must be legally capable of being PIC to log the time. So a safety pilot has no meaning for time logging purposes AFAIK.
Also there is no requirement for any IMC in order to log IFR time. And if there was, it would be unverifiable.
But what is IFR?
This goes round and round. I am glad that my own website doesn’t have a pilot forum on it, since I get only 2TB/month and even that costs me $25/month and I already have 100GB of traffic 
The end result, last I heard, is that an FTO presented with an ICAO IR (or IMCR) to CB IR conversion candidate, will be looking for some “creative home-brew interpretation” of “IFR time”. Eurocontrol airspace flights will obviously do. Not sure what an IMCR holder can do because all his/her flying is, ahem, VFR
i don’t know what you mean by “has no meaning”… Martin said he needed to log more actual instrument…ie actual IMC OR hood time….since he can legally act as PIC under under the IFR he could fly with a hood on and log those 10 hours…. The safety pilot logs nothing…he is just there for….safety!
PS: you’d save a lot of disc space if you had a Like button! 
Peter wrote:
I don’t think you can do that, Europe or USA – because in a single pilot aircraft there can be only one PIC. And only the PIC can log time.
Not so in the US AFAIK. It is very common for the safety pilot to log PIC time in addition to the pilot flying as sole manipulator of the controls. See here.
