"Bob Moore" wrote in message

I failed my Private because I used a private field as a
waypoint in my cross-country plan.

WHATTT.... No way! You can use a tree as a waypoint as
long as it can be identified from the airplane in flight.
Maybe you failed because you could not identify the "grass"
field as a waypoint, not because it was a "private" field.

Specifically, the DE knew the owner of the private field. There was an
airstrip that was UNMARKED across a little creek from a field. My
instructor and I incorrectly assumed that the paved strip was the private
airfield on the section. It turns out otherwise; the actual airstrip was
simply a field; when the farmer wanted to fly, he put up his windsock and
mowed himself a runway in the appropriate direction. Because I
misidentified the airport by thinking the strip across the street was
[whatever the private field was called], he busted me.

-c