Originally Posted by
Planespotta
... I take off, land at another airport once, and then come back to the airport I took off from, and the whole flight is 1 hour, do I only count the .5 to get to the second airport as 135 XC or the entire 1 hour as 135 XC?...
You actually have two flights here: A to B, then another B to A. Count them accordingly (.5 plus .5).
...Secondly, if I take off and fly .5 to another airport, do .5 in that pattern, and then fly .5 back, what portion(s) of that flight are loggable as 135 XC?...
The outbound and the return legs count, but the .5 hour worth of touch and goes does not because they are not point-to-point legs where the second point differs from the first. You can't pick and choose which landings you count to cheat the rule.
An interesting contrast would be departing A, go to the practice area and spend 3.9 hours doing air work out there. Get all that done (whew), do a quick touch and go at point B then head back to A and grab a beer. Now it all counts. This is an absurd example, but it illustrates the rule. CFIs do it all the time and I do not approve or disapprove, just telling you about the practice.