INTERNET PILOT

Does a flight from "Start -> VOR 1 -> VOR 2 -> VOR 3 -> Stop" count as ATP cross country, or do you have to go 50NM from your start/stop location? What about "Start -> VOR 1 -> VOR 3 -> Stop"?

Twin Wasp

There is no definition of cross country in the ATP requirements. In the PVT and COM the regs talk about a straight line distance between the takeoff and landing locations.

INTERNET PILOT

There has to be some definition. A lot of people say 50 NM, but you don't have to land, unlike the part 135 rules where you have to land, but it doesn't have to be 50 NM.

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.

INTERNET PILOT

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.

NoyGonnaDoIt

Huh?

==============================
61.1(b)(3) Cross-country time means -
(ii) For the purpose of meeting the aeronautical experience requirements ... for a private pilot certificate ... a commercial pilot certificate, or an instrument rating... time acquired during a flight--
...
(B) That includes a point of landing that was at least a straight-line distance of more than 50 nautical miles from the original point of departure; and
...

(vi) For the purpose of meeting the aeronautical experience requirements for an airline transport pilot certificate ... time acquired during a flight -
...
(B) That is at least a straight-line distance of more than 50 nautical miles from the original point of departure; and
...
==============================


The only difference between the two is that for the private, commercial and instrument, there has to be a landing and for the ATP a landing isn't required.
Otherwise the definitions for the two are identical.

How would a flight with a landing >50 NM away not qualify as a flight >50 NM away without a landing?

And where does anyone see a requirement for a 50 NM leg anywhere in those deifintions?

INTERNET PILOT - your scenario dies not qualify as a cross country for either the private/commercial/instrument or for the ATP. With or without a landing, at no point are you a straight-line distance >50 NM from your original point of departure.

rickair7777

yeah, leg length or total length of flight is irrelevant. It is all based on DISTANCE from the DEPARTURE point. Draw a 50NM ring around the departure airport, then fly outside that ring.

For an ATP, you are done. The flight counts regardless of where you go or what you do after that.

For PPL, CPL, IR you need to land somewhere before you fly back into the ring. Touch-and-go's are a grey area here, best to do a at least a stop-and-go.

Once you leave the ring, you do not need to go back inside...ie you could land and spend the night (or weekend, or whatever).

Also be aware that the FAA may not want you to do a 51NM XC flight, do airwork for two hours, and then log the whole flight as XC. It's not defined by the regs that you have to be "enroute" the whole time, but use your judgment here. A few practice stalls or slow flight enroute would be OK but probably not extended airwork in a practice area.

USMCFLYR

Rickair -

Earlier you said this:
I certainly would have considered a T&G meeting that requirement.
BTW - I wasn't even as smart on the FARs as this forum has made me when I figured time for the ATP and I only used what I thought was the more conservative time to use which was the 50 nm range with a landing. I have seen now that I was mistaken. I'm curious about this grey matter of T&G -vs- full stop landing though; how about a roll-n-go? More than a T&G but less than a full stop.

USMCFLYR

INTERNET PILOT

When I was doing my training, the thing everyone used to say was "make sure you have two landings that are at least 50 NM away". Basically you take all the points at which you landed. If you can drawl a line between any two points and have it be more than 50 NM, then it counts as 50 NM cross country. For ATP XC its the same, except you use any point that you fly over instead of any point where you landed.

When I was doing my training there was a common route private students would do where they'd fly north 30 miles to airport A, do a touch and go, fly south 50 miles to airport B, do a touch and go, then return home 30 miles north. The idea was when you landed at Airport A, it became the new "departure" airport.

Now lets say you went 30 miles to airport A, spent the night, then flew 50 miles to airport B, would that qualify? How is that any different between flying 30 miles to Airport A but just doing a touch and go before heading off to airport B? Where is the line drawn between an airport being the new "departure point" and an "enroute point"? Has the FAA ever defined these terms?

NoyGonnaDoIt

It does. I'm not sure where Rick sees the gray area. A landing is a landing and a touch & go counts as much an any other unless, of course, there is a reg that specifically tells us that there needs to be a full stop to count. And there are more than enough of those to tell us that the FAA isn't shy about telling us when it wants a full stop.

Personally I insist that my students do full stops at their solo cross country airports. But that's my rule not the FAA's.