When is a flight considered cross country

[Zulu Alpha]

How many nm does a flight have to be before it is considered cross country and logged as such in your logbook. I've been using 50nm and cannot remember why. Am I correct?

Thanks

[FullyFlapped]

I was always told it was any flight outside of your own (local) airfield's zone (or boundary, I guess if it doesn't have a zone). That could, however, just have been my instructors not trusting me to stray very far !

FF :ok:

[Andy_R]

I believe it is 3nm from the airfield!!!!

[SlipSlider]

The 50nm may be a recollection from QXC, when one leg had to be >50nm .....
Slip

[Zulu Alpha]

Thanks everyone so far.

I have a column in my (US) logbook that says cross country. I assume that I must do more than stray outside the pattern for a flight to be a X country. Thats why I was asking.

I have been using 50nm away from base ie not 30 mins bimbling locally.

David

[Mike Cross]

I used to put the turning points in the remarks column to avoid any argument. From a practical point of view bimbling about in the vicinity of the airfield I wouldn't count as x-c as it doesn't require planning or navigation skills.

No doubt if you are asking the question because you need to log x-c time there will be a definition of what counts in the requirements for what you are trying to achieve.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

We discuss this here from time to time and come to no very serious conclusion.

(Personally I log the time XC if I've drawn a line on the map and not if I'm just flying by reference to well-known landmarks.)

[Talkdownman]

CAP393 Section 1 Schedule 8 Part B:

“Cross-country flight” means any flight during the course of which the aircraft is more than 3 nautical miles from the aerodrome of departure.

[Chilli Monster]

Zulu Alpha - if your licence is a US one then that's where you remember it from:

UK licence - any flight further than 3nm from the airfield (As TDM says)

FAA (US) licence - any flight landing at another airfield 50nm or more from the airfield of departure (14 CFR 61.1(b)(3) )

[englishal]

Which is well worth remembering if you plan to do any FAA ratings. All the 3nm bimbles won't count and you may find you don't meet the requirements (For example FAA IR requires 50 hours PIC X/C )

Personally I only log X/C if it is > 50nm from departure to destination airfield

[Whopity]

The CAP 393 definition is for the purposes of the privileges of the AFI/FI(R) rating. The holder of such a rating may not authorise the first solo flight out of circuit i.e. flights exceeding 3nm from the airfield.

For licensing purposes a X-ctry flight is any flight from A-B or a flight from A-A that goes via defined turning points i.e it involves navigation as opposed to "finding" the aerodrome after a long bimble! Thats why pilots are required to log the turning points.

Once you are qualified I don't think anyone cares!

[ShyTorque]

Also, see the "Civvy circuit size" thread. There's a few cross country fliers mentioned in that. :p

[Zulu Alpha]

Chilli Monster

Many thanks, I did get a US licence first and thats where the 50nm X country must have come from.
Someone asked me the other day and I couldn't remember why, so thanks for digging it out of the FARs.

It is interesting that a X country is more than 3 nm here but more than 50nm in the US.

I'll carry on using 50nm in my US logbook.

Thanks to all who replied.

[FlyingForFun]

Chilli Monster has it right - the answer depends on which set of rules you are looking at. 3nm under JARs, 50nm under FARs.

FFF
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[Cool_Hand]

I guess on the 3nm side of things, circuits at Blackbushe are considered cross country then...

I use my log book for reference, when I apply for whichever qualification (FAA or JAA) I fill in the form according to that countries requirements, 50nm and 3nm. As has been said you have to make good use of the comments column in order to know what you did and where.

[IO540]

People doing FAA standalone licenses, who think they have all the logbook entries, can get some suprises. Before mine, I spent 3 hours with Excel, going through the logbook and separating out the FAA-specified flight types into the very different columns as required on the FAA form. There was one requirement (can't recall which) which the examiner was looking for and which I managed to satisfy with a 1300nm flight to Malaga with a halfway fuel stop, but if I had spent the night on the fuel stop it would not have counted...

Then there is the extra stuff for the FAA night flight, which one doesn't do under JAA. My recollection may be wrong but they are after separation of day x/c and night x/c time.

[bar shaker]

The NPPL 'restricted' permits flight up to 8nm from the departure airfield.

The restriction is lifted once 5 hours QXC are logged, two flights of which must be >40nm in a triangular route.

On this basis, I have always treated <8nm as local flights and >8nm as XC.

[IO540]

I wonder what is the significance of the 8nm max radius on the NPPL. Is there no nav taught at that stage?

[AerBabe]

Surely it's got to be more than 3 nm from the airfield... I know people who fly circuits bigger than that!