Cross Country flights

[HercFeend]

Hi guys

I have a quick question regarding Cross Country flights that I hope someone will be able to answer for me.

What is a cross country flight? Is there a definitive explanation – maybe from the CAA? For instance for your Instrument Rating you require “50 hours cross countryâ€￾. Does the flight have to involve you travelling a minimum distance from your departure point i.e. 25nm in a straight line before it is classified as a cross country flight or does the flight need to fulfil a minimum total distance i.e. a route of 100nm?

Essentially I want to know which flights count and which don’t........ or in other words what a flight must entail for it to count toward accumulated cross country time?

Cheers for any info.

[Ace]

Not entirely sure, but on an RPPL (licence without the cross country rating) you're allowed up to 25nm away from base aren't you? So I would assume anything over 25nm away from your initial departure point?

[Ace]

Just double checked that today, I was correct.

[nzav8tor]

From CAA CAR Part 1, Definitions and Abbreviations:

Cross-country flight means a flight which extends more than 25 nautical
miles in a straight line distance from the centre of the aerodrome of
departure:

Specific requirements for x/c hours credited toward a pilot licence are much more specific and can be found by digging into the Advisory Circulars for Part 61, Pilot Licences and Ratings. AC 61-5 concerns the CPL and I recommend you have a read through it and ask an instructor at your flying school to help explain what it
means exactly and how your logbook may or may not meet the wording.

All of the rules and regs can be found easily at the CAA website, caa.govt.nz but heres an excerpt of relevance anyway:

Advisory Circular AC61-5 Revision 19
29 June 2009 14 CAA of NZ

Navigation flight training syllabus

Dual and pilot-in-command navigation exercises

All dual and pilot-in-command cross-country navigation training exercises are to be carried out in accordance with the following:
The pilot may select, under supervision of a Category B or A flight instructor, the route for
each flight; and all flights undertaken to meet the requirements of the 20-hour training syllabus are to be:

• Greater than 100 nautical miles in a straight line from the aerodrome of departure,
incorporating 2 landings; or
• Greater than 200 nautical miles over a route incorporating at least 3 landings; and
• At least 1 flight, either a dual or pilot-in-command, of the 20-hour training syllabus
is to meet the ICAO requirement of a route distance not less than 300 nautical miles
and incorporating full-stop landings at 2 different aerodromes other than the
aerodrome of departure.

The syllabus of cross-country navigation training is to include procedures to be followed in the event of en-route emergencies resulting in operational, bad weather, or low-level diversions, becoming lost and partial or total engine failure. It is to include precautionary landing considerations as a result of bad weather, low fuel state, mechanical failures, or fading daylight, and transponder use in emergencies.
Each cross-country navigation training flight, undertaken in accordance with this syllabus, is to be certified in the pilot’s logbook, by the supervising flight instructor, as meeting the requirements of the CPL syllabus of cross-country navigation training.

Hours of training

At least 10 hours of dual cross-country navigation flight instruction; and
At least 10 hours of pilot-in-command cross-country navigation flight time.

[HercFeend]

Thanks for that.

Yeah I've seen/read the AC61-5 info before but this only concerns the criteria to be met when undertaking the Cross Country phase of your CPL (which I'm currently doing). Doesn't it?


My question was based more around "what counts as a XC flight in general after the CPL XC flight test? i.e. to accumulate XC hours toward your IR.

I think the answer is that defined by CAR Part 1 - Cross-country flight means a flight which extends more than 25 nautical miles in a straight line distance from the centre of the aerodrome of departure:

Cheers

[HercFeend]

QUOTE (Ace @ Mar 1 2010, 02:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not entirely sure, but on an RPPL (licence without the cross country rating) you're allowed up to 25nm away from base aren't you? So I would assume anything over 25nm away from your initial departure point?

Why would ANYONE want one of these licences..........

[Kelburn]

I think some people get them cause they're doing the cross country phase but bad weather keeps cancelling them. They do the flight test then carry out the cross country when the seasonschange to good weather.

[2fst4u]

QUOTE (HercFeend @ Mar 2 2010, 02:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why would ANYONE want one of these licences..........

It's cheaper by 10 hours.

[nzav8tor]

Yes you can say that x/c flights not counted towards specific licence requirements are those meeting the definition.

Well in europe the MPL Multi Pilot Licence is now in use, this one doesn't even give you any PIC time, you can only fly as a 2IC so go figure.

[HardCorePawn]

QUOTE (HercFeend @ Mar 2 2010, 02:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why would ANYONE want one of these licences..........

A restricted PPL? That's what I did...

Mainly because they changed the rules and my exam passes had changed from being valid forever (except Law at 5 years), to only being valid for 2 years from 11 May 2006. It was Jan/Feb 2008 and rather than run the risk of encountering bad weather, on the advice of my CFI, I opted to sit the PPL flight test and worry about the cross country and night flying later.

It didn't cost any more, it was simply a matter of doing the required cross countries and night flying, and then getting the A-Cat Flight Examiner to lift the restriction after presentation of my logbook.

As it turns out, I got the night flying restriciton lifted 6th April, and the cross-country one lifted 12th April... so I would have been OK, but better safe than sorry