This has been covered many times. If you don't want the hours then don't log it but you are legal to do so. Furhtermore, the FSDO is nothing more than the beat cop for the FAA. They have no authority over the interpretation of the regulations. You could go to three different FSDO's and end up with three different answers. If you want the FAA interpretation of the regs write a letter to the Cheif Counsel and they will respond in about 30 days. What the examiner or the FSDO says is irrelevant. They are tasked with the enforcement of what the Cheif Counsel puts in the regs. The Regulations and Enforcement Division are the final authority over these matters.
Attached is a post from a similar question a few months back.
14 CFR 61.51(g). One may log instrument time only when operating the aircraft by reference to instruments under actual or simulated instrument flight conditions. Also, a flight instructor may log instrument time when instructing under instrument conditions.
Part 1.1 defines "IFR Conditions" as conditions less than VFR. The reg that discusses logging instrument time is 61.51(g)(1) and does not say "IFR conditions," but rather "instrument conditions." The two are very different.
"IFR conditions" is instrument flight rules, while "instrument conditions" is the actual conditions of flight. IFR conditions are indeed conditions less than VFR, while instrument conditions occur any time that the aircraft must be flown by reference to instruments.
A person does not need to be flying under instrument flight rules to be in instrument conditions and a person flying under instrument flight rules does not always log it as "actual" instrument conditions.
Situations such as flight between layers or "on top" do not get logged as instrument conditions, while flying above minimums under VFR rules can be logged as instrument conditions. For example, flying on a moonless night over the desert when your only reference to a horizon is your instruments, even if you are in unlimited visibility with no clouds, while flying below minimums while skimming the bottom of a layer (not within VFR cloud spacing) may not be instrument conditions because you have reference of a horizon.
Any conditions which require flight soley by reference to instruments are instrument conditions, and flight time spent in these conditions is loggable as instrument flight time.
This may sound like BS to many of you, as some of you have questioned this sort of thing in the past, so I will give reference to the FAA legal interpretation by the Chief Counsel (Cassady, Nov., 1984)
November 7, 1984
Mr. Joseph P. Carr
Dear Mr. Carr:
This is in response to your letter asking questions about instrument flight time.
First, you ask for an interpretation of Section 61.51(c)(4) of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) regarding the logging of instrument flight time. You ask whether, for instance, a flight over the ocean on a moonless night without a discernible horizon could be logged as actual instrument flight time.
As you know, Section 61.51(c)(4) provides rules for the logging of instrument flight time which may be used to meet the requirements of a certificate or rating, or to meet the recent flight experience requirements of Part 61. That section provides in part, that a pilot may log as instrument flight time only that time during which he or she operates the aircraft solely by reference to instruments, under actual (instrument meteorological conditions (imc)) or simulated instrument flight conditions. "Simulated" instrument conditions occur when the pilot's vision outside of the aircraft is intentionally restricted, such as by a hood or goggles. "Actual" instrument flight conditions occur when some outside conditions make it necessary for the pilot to use the aircraft instruments in order to maintain adequate control over the aircraft. Typically, these conditions involve adverse weather conditions.
To answer your first question, actual instrument conditions may occur in the case you described a moonless night over the ocean with no discernible horizon, if use of the instruments is necessary to maintain adequate control over the aircraft. The determination as to whether flight by reference to instruments is necessary is somewhat subjective and based in part on the sound judgment of the pilot. Note that, under Section 61.51(b)(3), the pilot must log the conditions of the flight. The log should include the reasons for determining that the flight was under actual instrument conditions in case the pilot later would be called on to prove that the actual instrument flight time logged was legitimate.
Sincerely,
/s/
John H. Cassady
Assistant Chief counsel
Regulations and Enforcement Division