Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

Useing all available X/C time for the IR

Asked by: 2281 views , ,
Instrument Rating

Can the solo X/C time prior to the PPL be used to satisfy the 50 hrs. X/C time required for the Instrument Rating? (part 61). How about the 250 miler in the IR rating training?

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.

3 Answers



  1. LTCTerry on Apr 14, 2021

    FAR 61.65 – “Except as provided in paragraph (g) of this section, 50 hours of cross-country flight time as pilot in command, of which 10 hours must have been in an airplane;”

    Solo time as a student is not PIC XC. So. No, it doesn’t count.

    FAR 61.65 – “A flight of 250 nautical miles along airways or by directed routing from an air traffic control facility;”

    Yes. This counts.

    The dual and solo XC requirements for the commercial certificate also count towards the 50 hours required for IFR and Commercial. Read the requirements for what you want to do, and work towards meeting them as early as possible.

    Good luck!

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. LTCTerry on Apr 14, 2021

    I thought I could edit my answer above. I don’t see that I can. Solo student time is PIC. Dual XC student time is not.

    Once rated dual time is also logged as PIC. (Though many other countries only allow for one or the other.)

    Sorry for confusion!

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Mark Kolber on Apr 14, 2021

    @LTCTerry, I’ve come across the lack of ability to edit answers here too. It’s too bad,

    @Mackey, just so it’s clear, yes, your student solo cross country time counts toward the 50 hour cross country PIC requirement.

    And yes, so long as it is in an aircraft you are rated for (I assume ASEL in your case), so do post private certificate dual cross country flights, including the required IFR dual cross country.

    +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.