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8 Answers

Cross Country Requirement and Endoesments

Asked by: 5833 views Student Pilot

I am a Sport Student Pilot. I have 85 hrs,in C-172 and C-162  (38 hrs. Solo in C-162 Skycatcher). I started out as a PPL Student  and decided to go the Sport Lic route. I have been putting off "Official" Cross Country and decided I needed to finish up and take Check Ride before my latest 90 day solo rounds out. My instructor gave me an endorsements to fly to and from six of the Class D Airports in our area and the endorsement reads after stating I am proficient etc and naming the airports".....or an Airport with an Operational Control Tower" I also have an endorsement to fly through  local Class B airspace. I did the Flight Plan for my XC going to a class D airport similar to the ones I fly to now. I have not been to it before. I know the CFI is required to Review procedures for that particular airport and sign off on it. I have a new CFI and he is stating that it is a requirement that he has to fly with me to that particular airport first before I can fly there. It does not makes sense with the endorsement I have and talking to other CFI's. They all say he has to review procedures but does not have to fly there with me first. My question is does he have to physically fly to an airport with me before I fly there or does he just have to feel comfortable I know I am doing after reviewing  proper procedures with me?  The airport I want to fly to is closer than this obscure Airfield (I have not been to either) that he wants me to go to in Class E Airspace . To be honest I am more comfortable flying to Airports with "an Operational Control Tower" and multiple runways than single runway airfields. Thanks.

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8 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Oct 02, 2014

    I have always been of the opinion that I will believe anything anyone tells me if they can back it up with a written reference that I can check.

    Unless your new instructor can show you where it says he has to fly with you to the Class D airport, then there is no requirement for him to fly with you.

    In questions like this, it would be helpful if you listed the airport you fly from and the airport you will be flying to.

    See 61.93 (b), (c) and (d).

    Your endorsement for Class B, C and D should reference 61.94. The instructor could endorse you for 61.325 as well because the training is identical to 61.94.

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  2. Russ Roslewski on Oct 02, 2014

    If I’m following the question correctly, though, the student is a sport pilot student trying to fly on a solo cross country. Then, doesn’t 61.94(a)(5) apply?

    (5) Ground and flight training for the specific airport located in Class B, C, or D airspace for which the solo flight is authorized, if applicable, within the 90-day period preceding the date of the flight at that airport. The flight and ground training must be received at the specific airport for which solo flight is authorized.

    The key is the last sentence, which requires the CFI to go to that exact Class D airport for the purpose of training for the endorsement, which would come before the solo flight.

    The endorsements for an existing sport pilot, following 61.325, however, do not require the CFI to actually go to the specific airport. That’s because it’s a “Class D” endorsement, not a “XXX Airport” endorsement.

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  3. Kris Kortokrax on Oct 02, 2014

    That’s what I get for trying to multitask. Not only 61.94 (a) (5), but also 61.94(a) (4). That seems a bit redundant, but that’s the way they worded it.

    Looks like you have 2 choices. Either fly with your CFI to the Class D airport and then turn around and fly back and forth solo, or just do one flight to an uncontrolled airport. More likely it is an airport located in Class G, not Class E airspace. Don’t know for sure because you didn’t provide a list of the airports involved.

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  4. Russ Roslewski on Oct 02, 2014

    It also appears that the original CFI’s endorsement was incorrect. By my reading of 61.94(a)(5), since the CFI needs to go with the student to each Class D airport, a blanket “and all towered airports” isn’t legit. Once you get your Sport Pilot certificate, though, then a blanket endorsement is what you would get.

    61.94 is indeed oddly worded. It seems that what they were trying to capture is the difference between flying THROUGH B, C, D airspace and LANDING at a B, C, D airport (since a sport pilot student needs endorsements for either). This would explain the slight difference in wording between 61.94(a)(4) and (5).

    Notice this same type of wording does not exist for students working toward a private pilot certificate, only a sport pilot certificate. A private pilot student can be signed off to fly XC to a Class D field without ever having been there with a CFI. This is likely the reason for the other CFIs at the school disagreeing with the OP’s new CFI – Sport Pilot stuff is still relatively new and many CFI’s don’t have that much experience with it.

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  5. Nibake on Oct 02, 2014

    This doesn’t make any sense to me. There is nothing written in blood that says you are seeking your sport pilot or private pilot. What would keep the CFI from signing you off for a student pilot cross country solo as if you were seeking your private?
    The way I understand the regs, if a student pilot came to me with a cross country endorsement and current solo endorsement, I could legally sign him/her off for a cross country to a class D or even a class C airport with no other requirement but that I have reviewed the planning on the day of the flight.

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  6. James c on Oct 02, 2014

    Did you get a endorsement to solo in both aircraft? And sport pilots are not required to get medicals as well, that’s one difference.

    (c) Pre-solo flight training. Prior to conducting a solo flight, a student pilot must have:

    (1) Received and logged flight training for the maneuvers and procedures of this section that are appropriate to the make and model of aircraft to be flown; and

    (2) Demonstrated satisfactory proficiency and safety, as judged by an authorized instructor, on the maneuvers and procedures required by this section in the make and model of aircraft or similar make and model of aircraft to be flown.

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  7. Mark Kolber on Oct 05, 2014

    Nibake, the short answer to your question is that, as the holder of a sport pilot certificate, Kenneth is not a “student pilot” within the regulatory meaning of the term. He is subject to sport pilot limitations just as we all are subject to the limitations of the certificates and ratings we already have when obtaining additional training, whether we are seeking an advanced certificate or rating our not.

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  8. Mark Kolber on Oct 05, 2014

    Ah. Going back, I misread. I thought he was already a sport pilot.

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