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2 Answers

Does a long XC interrupted by weather still count?

Asked by: 1745 views ,
FAA Regulations, Student Pilot

My solo student headed off for his long XC two days ago. 45 miles in, at his first airport stop, he parked at the FBO and left the airport with a friend who met him there. A few hours later when he returned to continue his xc flight, the winds had picked up unexpectedly (wasn't in the forecast) so he left the airplane there and got a ride back home. Tomorrow (so 3 days after he began), he plans to drive out and continue his flight. Can this still be counted as his "long xc" flight?  Or does the long XC have to be completed all at once as a continuous flight?  Nowhere in 61.109 does it clarify.

 

 

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2 Answers



  1. Mark Kolber on May 05, 2020

    Yes it counts. My rule of thumb is, so long as you are not being ridiculous. An overnight delay due to weather is definitely not ridiculous.

    There’s an old orphanes FAA guidance document which was asked the quesion and said,

    “The ‘original point of departure’ for the purpose of a cross country does not change with a new day or delay.”

    Want some more recent formal support? Let’s try the 2009 Glenn Chief Counsel interpretation.

    More recently, in 2009, in answering a number of question about cross country logging (mostly regarding safety pilot scenarios), the FAA Chief Counsel made the following observation in response to a question about repositioning fights:

    “There is nothing in § 61.1(b)(3)(ii) or previous FAA interpretations dictating how separate flights must be logged. Accordingly, the pilot may choose what is considered a discreet flight and what is merely a segment of a flight, and then log that time appropriately when the flight is conducted. Section 61.1(b)(3)(ii) requires that the flight include a landing at a point other than the point of departure.”
    [2009 Glenn Interpretation](https://is.gd/pHRXUh)

    Personally, my long commercial cross country requirement was met was over the course of 3 days or 4 days depending on how one counts.

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  2. Best Answer


    Russ Roslewski on May 05, 2020

    I agree it counts.

    However, it is certainly going to look a little strange, since of course 99+% of all student XC flights are conducted on the same day in one more-or-less continuous flight.

    Plus, you will have to provide a second endorsement, and the endorsements will then look like this:

    5/3 Endorsement: A-B-C-A, Logbook: A-B
    5/6 Endorsement: B-C-A, Logbook: B-C-A

    Since it’s highly unusual, I would probably point it out to the DPE well before the checkride so there are no surprises.

    But I will also say, it gives the student a great opportunity to talk to the DPE about ADM, wind limits, proficiency, etc., etc. – it’s always wonderful to have a real scenario like that to discuss. Heck, that’s half the oral right there!

    (I had a student who, on one of his solo flights, had to make an emergency landing due to smoke in the cockpit, which turned out to be an exhaust leak melting stuff in the engine compartment. He had all kinds of stuff to talk with the examiner about after that!)

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