Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Solo Cross-country initial endorsement

Asked by: 3451 views , , , ,
FAA Regulations, Flight Instructor, Student Pilot

Hi everybody, I hope someone can help me with this questions.

One of my students is a student pilot seeking a private pilot certificate, was flying with another instructor who gave him the solo endorsements for his solo flights. They also flew together for his Dual X-country flights to 3 different airports, however his previous flight instructor never endorsed him for his SOLO x-country flights. Now, his previous instructor has left town and I am his new instructor. I told him that in order to endorse him for his solo x-country flight need to give him training on maneuvers listed on 61.93(e) and also comply with 61.93(c)(1)  A student pilot must have a solo cross-country endorsement from the authorized instructor who conducted the training that is placed in that person's logbook for the specific category of aircraft to be flown.

However the student doesn't want to spend more money flying a x-country lesson again. I asked a more experienced CFI about it and I was told that I don't need to fly with my new student a whole x-country flight and give him training in both directions of the route. But I can do a mock-up training with him(pretend to fly from point A to point B, file, open, amend and close a VFR flight plan, and in the middle of the flight give him a situation to divert to a closer airport). Doing that should be ok to endorse him for his solo x-country flight.

The student's solo endorsements are current,  just need to endorse him for his solo x-country initial 61.93(c)(1)(2) and 61.93(c)(3). 

Does anybody have a better idea what to do? 

I really appreciate all your guys help. 

Thank you all!

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. Max Trescott on Aug 19, 2019

    Yes, it’s unfortunately his previous instructor didn’t do that endorsement, and of course the student doesn’t want to pay to do it again. One solution might be for him to contact his prior CFI and get him to send him the required endorsement, and then paste that endorsement in his logbook.

    I think 61.93 (c) (1) is fairly clear. “A student pilot must have a solo cross-country endorsement from the authorized instructor who conducted the training that is placed in that person’s logbook for the specific category of aircraft to be flown.” Unless you repeat all of the training required in 61.93(e), I don’t see how it’s legal for you to give that endorsement. You could always contact your FSDO for their guidance.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 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.