Paragon, I'm not sure I entirely understand your question. I think you may be quoting me out of context.
To clarify, I said:
So the general consencus here is a big No. And if we're talking about a student who has just done some dual circuits with another instructor, and is now about to do some solo circuits immediately following that flight, then that makes sense.
What I am refering to here is the situation where an early solo student (who has probably not progressed beyond circuits) flies with an unrestricted instructor. The unrestricted instructor jumps out the aircraft and send the student solo. A restricted instructor then claims this solo flight as one of his 25 supervised solos.
I have no doubt that this does go on, but in my opinion it is most definitely against the spirit of the rule, and should not be allowed, since the restricted instructor has played no part in deciding whether the student should go solo or not. And this seems to concur with the general concensus on this thread.
But then, to throw the cat amongst the pidgeons, I suggested an alternative scenario (which I described in my earlier post, so I won't repeat it) whereby it
is, in my opinion, quite acceptable and within the spirit of the rule for an instructor to claim that he has supervised a student solo, despite not having flown with the student immediately prior to the flight, and possibly having never flown with the student.
I think that clears up the first part of your query. But then you said:
I'm certainly not suggesting that it would be ok to send someone solo without anyone flying with them beforehand
And this might explain why you didn't quite understand what I was trying to get at. At my school, it is quite normal for students to go solo without anyone flying with them immediately beforehand. Our FOB requires the student to have flown the type within 14 days prior to the solo flight (in contrast to the 28 days currency rule for the holder of a PPL). It also states that early solo students, who have less than 2 hours of solo circuits, will require a checkout by an instructor immediately prior to any solo flight - but this requirement does not exist once the student has 2 hours' solo.
It is therefore quite normal, at my school, for a student to do a solo cross-country without an instructor flying with him immediately before he goes off, so long as he complies with the 14-day currency rule. And, in fact, it would not be possible to be in the situation I was trying to describe of a restricted instructor supervising a solo without flying with the student first if we did not allow solo student flight in this way.
If you school's rules are different and you require a flight with an instructor prior to any solo, then I can't imagine a case where an instructor could claim to have supervised a student without flying with him first in that environment, since it would logically fall to the instructor who flew with the student to supervise the solo.
FFF
--------------