Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Read 61.1(3).
PPL, CP, IR require a LDG 50Nm straight-line from the point of departure.
ATP requires flight 50NM straight-line from departure, but no LDG. This was done to give military guys credit for some long flights which always return to base, without landing anywhere.
Part 135 requires a LDG, but no set distance.
For the original poster, that flight would only count for ATP XC if the distance between the airport and VOR 2 is 50+ NM. The trigonometry does not look like it would work.
Lets say VOR 1 was an airport that you did a touch and go at. The same for VOR 3. If this were the case, then a flight from "Start -> Airport 1 -> Airport 3 -> End" would indeed count towards the commercial/private/instrument XC requirement, because all thats required for those flights is
a leg that consists of 50 NM or greater.
If you're indeed correct in saying that a 50NM ring originating from the point of departure must be 'broken' for it to count towards ATP XC, then this means that all flights that you have done while getting your commercial/private/instrument
will not necessarily count towards the ATP, since the 50NM 'ring' is not a requirement for them, strictly speaking.
This is something that I just now realized, and don't think is very widely known.