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Logging Cross Country Time

Asked by: 3386 views FAA Regulations

As a private pilot flying (not in pursuit of an aeronautical certificate) I have a question on logging cross country time.

I often fly to airports within 50 miles of home base (some as close as 10 mies away), do a touch and go and return home.  My understanding is this is logged as cross country time?  No full stop is required and a one line logbook entry is OK such as FLY - COS - FLY, total X/C time etc.  Another question is flying to a nearby airport, doing a touch and go and then some air work in the practice area and/or pattern work at the destination or home airport.  My interpretation is you only log the portion enroute and your landing at destination and home airport as cross country time in that column and the air work does not count towards cross country time.

I just want to make sure I'm logging everything correctly.  I realize if in pursuit of an instrument or commercial rating that specific distances and full stops may be required but I'm only concerned about general cross country logging for the time being. Thanks

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3 Answers



  1. Russ Roslewski on Apr 30, 2020

    If you land somewhere other than where you started, it is XC time, using the basic definition in 61.1. You indicated you already know about the requirements for additional ratings, so if all you are asking about is pure “XC” time, then there’s your answer. This type of XC time is still useful to be logged, for instance to meet part 135 requirements, if you have any interest in that. I would go ahead and indicate in some fashion your “greater than 50 nm” (assuming airplanes here) and your shorter-distance XC time, just so there is no question (and it’s easier to count up) when you do go for a higher rating that requires the 50 nm XC time.

    As for your second question of subtracting any time spent doing touch-and-goes during a XC flight, you can certainly log it that way if you wish, but I would say this is not the normal practice. The normal practice in my experience is to just log the whole flight as XC time. If this doesn’t feel appropriate to you, then it’s okay to do it the other way – there is no official (or unofficial that I know of) guidance on this. Nor do I think we actually want there to be…

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  2. Mark Kolber on May 02, 2020

    You are asking a bookkeeping question. The >50 nm cross country is required for advanced certificates and ratings. The only regulatory thing “point-to-point” cross country regardless of distance counts toward is, off the top of my head, minimum Part 135 requirements Russ mentioned. Arguably any non-regulatiry reason too, such as an insurance application, if it asks and doesn’t define it differently.

    So, if you never plan to get an instrument rating or higher certificate, it doesn’t matter whether you log one type of cross country, the other type, both types, or none at all.

    OTOH, if you do, good bookkeeping suggests you have a way to identify the ones you need when the time comes. Logbook columns are cheap. Digital logbook columns even cheaper.

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  3. FlyAgain on May 02, 2020

    Thanks guys I think I got it, much appreciated.

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