If its not 50 miles, then its not XC for the purpose of the ratings that
require XC defined by the distance of 50 miles.. Wether you land or
not makes no difference if its under 50. I would log every flight you
make, so you can use the time to your advantage.

Instead of flying up to Dillinham all the time, why dont you grab a life
jacket and do some island hopping to build up your XC time? I would LOVE
to live back over there in the islands and go flying around there all
the time.

Dave

Koopas Ly wrote:
Howdy,

I was reading a short article on AOPA regarding logging x/c time.

By definition, cross-country time includes any flight with a landing
at any airport other than the departure airport; there is no distance
requirement. Reference: FAR 61.1(b)(3)

Of course, the catch is that:

To meet the requirements (except rotorcraft) for a private
certificate, a commercial certificate, and the instrument rating
(except instrument-helicopter), cross-country time requires a landing
at least 50 nm from the point of departure. FAR 61.1(b)(3)(ii)


Since I will probably go for an instrument rating soon, and then
commercial, should I indeed refrain from logging ALL flights with a
landing at an airport other than the departure airport in the x/c
column, regardless of distance?

For instance, I can't do touch and go's at my home airport (HNL), and
have to go to a nearby Class D airport to shoot landings. The
destination airport is definitely within 50 nm of HNL. Technically,
these flights count as x/c, even though I've never logged them as
such. Likewise, I've flown to airports only 47 nm away.

What do you guys/gals do? I guess it would depend on whether or not
you're persuing additional ratings.

Another question would be: what qualifies as a landing? A touch and
go is a landing, from experience. What about touching one wheel,
applying full power, and climbing away never to be seen again? Would
that count as a "landing"?

Alex