I thought that you meant instructors, sorry about that. Anyway, flying these long cross countries gets you in and out of other airports. It gets you comfortable going to places you aren't used to. I had alot of fun on my cross countries. I think that it is a great time. You shoot enough approaches during your instrument training that you are ready for some cross countries. But if you want to shoot approaches and landings to build up time for your commercial rating, have fun. From what I have heard, AB does the same thing that ATP does inregards to cross countries.