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4 Answers

Student Pilot logging dual cross country time – day vs night

Asked by: 7057 views , , , ,
Private Pilot, Student Pilot

When completing requirements for obtaining a private pilot license, under the Dual requirement, does night cross country time count towards the 3 hours of cross country flight training? For example, in the list below it does not state under number 1 anything about needing to be during daytime only.

Dual: 20 hours minimum of flight training with an instructor on the Private Pilot areas of operation including:

  1. 3 hours of cross country flight training in a single engine airplane;
  2. 3 hours of night flight training in a single engine airplane, that includes at least:
    a) 1 cross country flight of over 100 nm total distance; and
    b) 10 T/O’s and 10 landings to a full stop with each involving a flight in the traffic pattern at an airport.

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4 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Jun 12, 2016

    You need at least 20 hours of dual.

    Unless you are planning on doing 20 hours of solo, then you will probably need at least 30 hours of dual to meet the 40 hour minimum.

    If you were to count the night dual, 100 miles would take easily an hour.
    Do you really think you can learn everything you need to know about cross country flying with just 2 hours of daytime dual?

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  2. Bill Zaleski on Jun 15, 2016

    Since no one has answered your direct question, let me do that for you:

    Yes, the required three hours of cross country dual flight instruction (each flight including at least one leg that makes a landing more than 50NM from the original departure point), can have the required night dual cross country of more than 100NM included within those three hours.

    With proper ground instruction prior to the X/C dual, I have never had a student require more than the three hour minimum. I have give in excess of 13,000 hours of flight instruction in all category and class of aircraft except airship. Best of luck to you.

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  3. Kris Kortokrax on Jan 22, 2017

    I don’t know what I was thinking when I posted this answer. I apologize for the wrong information.

    I answered almost the exact same question in this post:

    http://www.askacfi.com/33343/ppl-cross-country.htm

    I do still stand by my thoughts regarding being able to learn pilotage, dead reckoning and radio navigation to a level where one would feel comfortable departing the west coast and flying to the east coast with just 3 hours of dual cross country instruction.

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  4. Dustin on Sep 29, 2018

    Kris I don’t think anyone expects the minimum cross country training (3 hours dual) to prepare a student pilot to fly from the west coast to the east coast. I’ve accumulated over 700 hours of flight experience, over 7 years (and counting), over half of which are long xc flights. My definition of “long” is (in my case) crossing the cascades. And I can tell you that if I were attempting to fly from west coast to east coast, all my current experience would not prepare me to be able to do that without a significant amount of study and preparation. I like the old axiom that says a pilot license is merely a license to learn.

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