Any tips for 300nm Cross Country for commercial?

I agree with you that a single 250 mile leg is not required.

Might also be a hold over - what people have in mind from the required length legs of the ppl and ifr training.


For me it was easier to do the straight 250 mile leg, do a short hop to get the extra required landing, and then return home. Others might feel the same and do the same. To each their own.
 
Diamonds said:
I can fly for 1.5- 2 hours and I feel beat afterwards. It seems daunting to fly 3 or 4 hour legs in a warrior or a 172. I guess at some point the only way to get it done is just to go ahead and do it, right?
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Don't fly 3-4 hour legs. Plan for 1.5 to 2. Pick an intermediate airport with a restaurant or interesting venue on the airport or nearby. This is supposed to be fun, not an endurance test.
 
Diamonds said:
Thanks everyone so far for your responses. It’s been interesting to see all of your perspectives. I should’ve mentioned this earlier but despite being instrument rated, I am not instrument current, but I’m going to be working on that shortly.
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Since the point of all this time building is to get experience and not numbers in the logbook, I want to challenge myself and go places I’ve never been. I’ve thought about a trip out to Kansas City, New Orleans, or somewhere that’s a little further than the minimum 250nm leg requirement. Flights like this being 400nm +, is this something you have to build endurance for? I can fly for 1.5- 2 hours and I feel beat afterwards. It seems daunting to fly 3 or 4 hour legs in a warrior or a 172. I guess at some point the only way to get it done is just to go ahead and do it, right?

I’m sure to make the flying I want to do realistic and practical I’ll have to get IFR current again. Somewhere along those 400+ miles there’s bound to be ceilings and less than ideal weather.
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Being instrument current will help with your options, both enroute and planning, but your flight can be accomplished VFR only; you will just need to wait for the right weather systems. But as long as you can wait at intermediate stops for weather to pass the area, that works also.

In the beginning, the over analysis of every aspect of the flight is exhausting. This should get better with your experience. But reducing stress for this flight will help. I reduce stress by getting IFR current even if I’m planning to fly in good VMC weather. Actually filing IFR in good VMC conditions can actually reduce the stress of figuring out how to negotiate more complex airspace. But shorter flights in actual IFR with constant decision making (icing, thunderstorms, changing weather at destination) and hand flying can be very exhausting for any of us.

Using an autopilot can help with stress and fatigue. Use flight following whenever you can if VFR. Don’t become overly dependent on too many gadgets in the plane that can serve as distractions, but have a reliable EFB fully charged with a plan to keep it charged either with batteries or with a charger at your intermediate stops. Keep things simple, or as much as you can.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Yeah, I see leg lengths in the 1973 FAR.
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Could you quote the Private and Commercial XC requirements?

I have been looking for them for a while, they come up in discussions every so often. I did my PP in 1979. But don't see an FAR from then on my shelf. I do have a 1991 for when I got back into flying. And a 2021 for the same reason. :)
 
midlifeflyer said:
Don't fly 3-4 hour legs. Plan for 1.5 to 2. Pick an intermediate airport with a restaurant or interesting venue on the airport or nearby. This is supposed to be fun, not an endurance test.
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Just to underscore this post: KXWA-KRKS-KPHX is almost 1,000 nm long with roughly 500-mile legs and is almost certain to include challenging weather, terrain, and fatigue for most GA pilots. But it does not meet the requirement. On the other hand, KXWA-KMOT-KDVL-KFAR is 306 miles long and ends up 292 miles from the point of origin, meeting the commercial pilot experience requirement without nearly the same risk and challenge of the longer flight. You can also stop more often if desired.

The logbook entry that I used for the commercial pilot qualification was a total of 478 nm, 11 legs with the longest being 78 miles and the shortest only 9 miles, in a J-3 Cub where the only technology I used newer than the airplane was a magenta highlighter on the sectional. I wrote a post about this at the time about 5 years ago, but I was on a mission to collect airport passport stamps from grass strips and decided to have some fun with it.

The point is that over-thinking the requirements of this logbook entry is no fun at all. Find an airport 250+ miles away, find a couple other airports along the way so you get the 3 stops in, make sure you're either going home at the end or your stops put you over the 300 mile minimum total distance, check to ensure there aren't any other people stowing away in your airplane, and go!
 
I was thinking this one would easily qualify. Then I remembered I wasn't solo half the time. I have multiple solo trips from Illinois out to Idaho/Utah and back. Those count.

Screenshot_20230221_104410_YouTube.jpg
 
Pinecone said:
Could you quote the Private and Commercial XC requirements?

I have been looking for them for a while, they come up in discussions every so often. I did my PP in 1979. But don't see an FAR from then on my shelf. I do have a 1991 for when I got back into flying. And a 2021 for the same reason. :)
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Here's 1973. I'm missing some things beyond that until Part 61 immediately before the big 1997 rewrite.

Private:
upload_2023-2-21_13-49-45.png

Before the 1997 rewrite, this went up to a 300 nm flight with at least one 100 nm leg. That was my long solo cross country for my private. The 1997 rewrite reduced it to the current requirement, 150 nm total distance, including a leg >50nm:
One flight of at least 300 nautical miles with landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is at least 100 nautical miles from the original departure point.​

Commercial:
upload_2023-2-21_13-53-9.png
Notice that it's not even a solo requirement, just a PIC one. There were a few amendments after that I don't have. By 1996, before the 1997 changes, it was still a PIC flight, not a solo requirement. Same wording, but the non-Hawaii total distance was increased to 250 NM. Still no leg requirement. (This was my commercial cross country.)

(3) 100 hours of pilot in command time, including at least:
(i) 50 hours in airplanes.
(ii) 50 hours of cross-country flights, each flight with a landing at a point more than 50 nautical miles from the original departure point. One flight must have landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is at least 150 nautical miles from the original departure point if the flight is conducted in Hawaii, or at least 250 nautical miles from the original departure point if it is conducted elsewhere.​

Basically, the 1997 rewrite moved the 300 total/250 destination long solo away from the private and into the commercial. If I recall correctly, it was mostly about ICAO commercial requirements.
 
I cant add anything too meaningful here other than I have flown 300 nm each way several times just to get BBQ. That's not a very long flight for me. my wife and kids without their phones and ipads may disagree though.
 
Wow. How and where did you get that?
 
midlifeflyer said:
Here's 1973. I'm missing some things beyond that until Part 61 immediately before the big 1997 rewrite.

Private:

Before the 1997 rewrite, this went up to a 300 nm flight with at least one 100 nm leg. That was my long solo cross country for my private. The 1997 rewrite reduced it to the current requirement, 150 nm total distance, including a leg >50nm:
One flight of at least 300 nautical miles with landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is at least 100 nautical miles from the original departure point.​

Commercial:

Notice that it's not even a solo requirement, just a PIC one. There were a few amendments after that I don't have. By 1996, before the 1997 changes, it was still a PIC flight, not a solo requirement. Same wording, but the non-Hawaii total distance was increased to 250 NM. Still no leg requirement. (This was my commercial cross country.)

(3) 100 hours of pilot in command time, including at least:
(i) 50 hours in airplanes.
(ii) 50 hours of cross-country flights, each flight with a landing at a point more than 50 nautical miles from the original departure point. One flight must have landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is at least 150 nautical miles from the original departure point if the flight is conducted in Hawaii, or at least 250 nautical miles from the original departure point if it is conducted elsewhere.​

Basically, the 1997 rewrite moved the 300 total/250 destination long solo away from the private and into the commercial. If I recall correctly, it was mostly about ICAO commercial requirements.
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Thanks. So pretty much the same as my 1991 FAR book. But the change away from the 3x 200 nm legs was pre-91. 1991 Commercial was the 3 points, one which is more than 250 nm from departure.

I got my Commercial through Mil Comp, so did not have to do that long XC. However, we did to an out and back solo XC, that for mine was 412 nm each way.
 
Only thing I have to add is to use a peanut jar rather than a Gatorade bottle for emergencies. The mouth is much wider and easier to access. Assumes you’re not allergic to peanuts.
 
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