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4 Answers

Logging cross country time for ATP

Asked by: 14192 views Commercial Pilot

for the private pilot license, cross country time is counted as a landing at an airport 50 nautical miles or greater..... I've been told the requirements are different for the ATP 500 hours of cross country.   Can someone shed some light on this?   Say I did sightseeing tours but took off and landed at the same airport.  Is this flight or part of it considered cross country??

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4 Answers



  1. Gary Moore on Jan 13, 2016

    By definition, cross-country time includes any flight conducted by a pilot in an aircraft that includes a landing at a point other than the point of departure that includes the use of dead reckoning, pilotage, electronic navigation aids, radio aids, or other navigation systems to navigate to the landing point. Reference: 14 CFR 61.1(b)(3)(i).

    To meet the requirements for a private certificate (airplane), cross-country time requires a point of landing that is more than 50 nm straight-line distance from the original point of departure. 14 CFR 61.1(b)(3)(ii)

    That doesn\\\’t mean that a 25 mile cross country is NOT valid cross country time – it just not valid for the Private Cert cross country requirement.

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  2. Mark Kolber on Jan 13, 2016

    Yes, the requirements for what is considered to be a countable cross country are relaxed a bit for ATP. That’s primarily a tip of the hat to our military pilots who can fly long missions without ever landing other than at their “base” (which might be a carrier deck), but it applies to all of us.

    The definition for an cross country countable for this purpose is in the same place as the others: FAR 61.1(b). It’s the (vi) in the list of the cross country definitions and begins, “For the purpose of meeting the aeronautical experience requirements for an airline transport pilot certificate…”

    But the >50 NM requirement is still there.

    Small technical correction to the question: even for the private, it’s not “50 NM or greater.” It’s “more than than 50NM”

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  3. Dauntless Aviation - PilotLog.com on Jan 19, 2016

    Mark is technically absolutely correct in his distinction between “50nm or greater” and “more than 50nm” observation, but I think the distinction is absolutely meaningless unless you are able to differentiate an atom’s width diameter between, say, 50nm and 50.000000000000000000000001 nm.

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  4. Tyler Connell on Jan 20, 2016

    Mark is correct. I have seen lot’s of CFI’s out there that get this confused. You don’t need to make any landings at any airports, as long as you fly a straight line distance of 50NM from your original point of departure, your flight is considered a cross country for an ATP per 61.1

    You also have to use dead reckoning, pilotage, electronic nav aids, radio aids, or other navigation systems along the route.

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