Originally Posted by
Lowtimer77
Thanks so far for the replies. So just to clarify, can I count a full hour towards the 50 hours of x/c needed for the instrument rating? I understand how it would count as an "x/c" flight towards a private certificate because of the whole requirement of a "x/c flight with atleast one leg no shorter than 50 nm, etc" thing, amd i know that for a commercial certificate i need to do one that is something like 250 nm, but im talking about the hour requirements of x/c time, not the flights with a minimum distance required. Sorry if im confusing you, i just want to get this right so i dont waste a lot of money on flights that cant be counted in total towards x/c time towards an instrument rating or commercial certificate. Thanks!
Most ratings have a requirement for one or more specific "xc trips" to be flown, read the regs for the details of each of these. IIRC, any flight that meets rating-specific trip requirements also will count as XC total time.
Most ratings also require a certain amount of "xc flight time". It sounds like you want to ensure that any required XC flights you do also apply towards total XC time.
For the basic ratings, in order to count XC TOTAL TIME you must land (or T&G) at an airport 50 NM or greater from the point of origin in order for the flight to count. If you meet this requirement the ENTIRE flight counts...
-50NM means STRAIGHT LINE, not flight planned route. We had a small patch that was exactly 50NM from the home base, but I didn't use that one because some feds seemed to think it was 49.5 NM.
-Intermediate stops are OK, you don't have to fly non-stop.
-It does not have to be there and back by the same route, as long as you land once at a point 50NM away, the entire flight and all legs count as XC. Triangular (or octagonal) routes are fine.
-You do not have to return to base.
-Note: If you stop for lunch or gas that is still one flight. However it is not clearly defined how long a stop you can have and still count it all as one flight. My recomendation would be to start a "new" flight if you overnight. If you overnight try to do it at least 50NM from home base so the return leg can also count as XC.