Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

IFR Cross Country DISTANCE Question

Asked by: 4243 views , ,
Instrument Rating, Private Pilot

Hi All, I have what would seem a fairly basic question about the long cross country requirements. The regs call for a: 61.65d "(A) A flight of 250 nautical miles along airways or by directed routing from an air traffic control facility; (B) An instrument approach at each airport; and (C) Three different kinds of approaches with the use of navigation systems. My Questions 1: Is the 250NM distance measured by straight line to the destination from your departure? (500NM roundtrip (surely not!)) or straight line 125NM out and back will suffice? Or Is it the total of each leg segment, regardless of leg segment totals (presumably at least 50NM away from departure aiport to qualify as a cross country), to meet the requirement?  Say a circle around the Dallas Bravo airspace stopping at 2 airports + departure/destination? Thanks Todd

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Jul 09, 2015

    The total of the segments must add to 250 NM or more and at least one of the airports must be at least 50 NM from the departure airport.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.