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3 Answers

Cross country distance

Asked by: 4617 views FAA Regulations, General Aviation, Instrument Rating

A quick question on a flight with multiple legs, and counting this flight as Cross Country - for the instrument rating requirement.

Say the flight has 4 legs, and they are in order 28, 17, 19 and 62. The last leg brings you back to the first airport of departure. Can this be counted as a XC flight for the Instrument Rating?

According to my current instructor: No. His reasoning is that the first leg has to be 50 + NM.

 Other instructors say: as long as one leg is more than 50 NM, it should be good.

What say you?

 

 

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3 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    Bob Watson on May 03, 2014

    Looking at FAR 61.1, the definition of “Cross-country” for the Instrument rating says (ii)(b) “That includes a point of landing that was at least a straight-line distance of more than 50 nautical miles from the original point of departure;” So, I’d agree with the other instructors (rather, they appear to agree with the FAR). Ask your current instructor where it says anything about the first leg. If it becomes an issue, couldn’t you just reverse the order of airports?

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  2. Mark Kolber on May 03, 2014

    The flight counts.

    Actually, you can ask the first CFI where it says anything about any leg. Anyone see the word “leg” in Bob’s quote from the reg?

    So it depends on where those airports are. Yours is fine as a countable cross country but I can easily envision a flight that has an intermediate leg more than 50 NM that does not qualify as a cross country toward the instrument rating (although part of it would). I can also envision a a multi-leg flight that does count even though not even one leg is more than 30 NM (that 30 is not a magic number; I just was choosing a number obviously less than 50).

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  3. R.W Williams on May 03, 2014

    Thanks for the responses. This clears up the confusion.

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