"Gerald Sylvester" wrote in message
. com...
To be legal as a cross country you have to land at an airport more than
50 miles away. Flying 75 miles out and then back without landing
doesn't count. It's a stupid rule but that's what it is.

from my understand though, the rules are vague though. What if I fly
from airport A for a touch and go at airport B for 51 nm. I then fly to
airport C that is 25nm and do a bounce and go. I then continue back to
airport A another 25 nm and land. I believe I can count that as all XC.
Or am I wrong and all airports that I land/touch and go at have to
be 50 nm apart?

No, they don't. They can all be one mile apart and the flight will still be
a cross country. Not only that, if you are flying a 50 nm cross country for
the purpose of logging it towards, say, a commercial certificate, then you
can stop at any number of interim airports.

The rules are quite clear. Take the 150 nm cross country for a private pilot
certificate, for example. This cross country flight has its own special
rules and definition. The total distance must be at least 150 nm, but only
one segment between airports must be at least 50 nm. You could meet this
particular cross country requirement by flying to an airport that is 10 nm
away, doing a touch and go, then to an airport 65 miles from that, do a
touch and go, and return to your original point of departure. Out and back
is 150 nm and two of the legs were over 50 nm. Or, you could fly 45 nm from
A to B, 64 nm from B to C, and 45 nm from C to A, for a total distance of
154 miles, one leg being over 50 nm, but none of the airports being more
than 50 nm from the airport of original departure.