CPL XC Requirement

DesertNomad

DesertNomad

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DesertNomad
I am trying to figure out if I meet the XC requirement for my CPL. I have all the hours but the one requirement is a "solo" XC of 300 miles, three airports and at least 250 miles away form the starting point.

Almost all my time is with my wife, so not solo, even though we flew from Reno to Cuba which is a lot more than 300 miles.

When I bought my plane in Texas, I flew it home with my CFI (right seat) and my wife (back seat). We stopped in NM and AZ before landing in Reno. As this was my first flight in the Dakota, my insurance company required 6 hours of dual to get insurance. I was the sole manipulator of the controls and logged it as PIC.

Does this flight count as a solo XC since the regs seem to say I can count solo as with a CFI?
 
Yes if you were with your CFI, you can count it as your long commercial XC. Not solo time though. Edit. I guess I did not know about that interpretation!
 
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DesertNomad said:
I am trying to figure out if I meet the XC requirement for my CPL. I have all the hours but the one requirement is a "solo" XC of 300 miles, three airports and at least 250 miles away form the starting point.

Almost all my time is with my wife, so not solo, even though we flew from Reno to Cuba which is a lot more than 300 miles.

When I bought my plane in Texas, I flew it home with my CFI (right seat) and my wife (back seat). We stopped in NM and AZ before landing in Reno. As this was my first flight in the Dakota, my insurance company required 6 hours of dual to get insurance. I was the sole manipulator of the controls and logged it as PIC.

Does this flight count as a solo XC since the regs seem to say I can count solo as with a CFI?
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If I'm understanding you post correctly, no, it doesn't count for your long commercial solo.

Mainly, I t was logged as dual for your insurance. Logging it as dual precludes its use in lieu of solo. "Substitute solo" is not logged as dual. This one was discussed in the 2014 Kuhn Interpretation.

Your wife being a passenger may or may not be an issue. The 2007 Olshok opinion says the CFI on a substitute solo flight may allow additional people on board "for instructional purposes." Your take on that one is as good as anyone's. I'd be conservative about it.

I think you understand it probably does count for one of the required dual xcs.
 
I guess it would count as the daytime 2hr XC then. For the solo I guess I'll just fly my plane back from the avionics shop myself and that will count (I'll have to make a couple of stops along the way).
 
Help me out here... I too have a Dakota and was interested in the CPL but I thought you needed to do all the hours & XC on a High Performance & Complex airplane and since the Dakota doesn't have retract it's my understanding it does not qualify to meet the ratings requirement. Is that not correct cause if so then I have to circle back on this?
 
netsurfr said:
Help me out here... I too have a Dakota and was interested in the CPL but I thought you needed to do all the hours & XC on a High Performance & Complex airplane and since the Dakota doesn't have retract it's my understanding it does not qualify to meet the ratings requirement. Is that not correct cause if so then I have to circle back on this?
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You need 10 hours complex and I have 7 of that from an Arrow, Bonanza and Comanche. SOme of the checkride has to be in something like an Arrow but the maneuvers and XCs can be in a Dakota.
 
Here's a safe conservative way to see the CPL requirements:

2hr 100nm XC, day, dual. Can be IFR or VFR.
2hr 100nm XC, night, dual. ditto.
300nm XC (w/ 3 airports/250NM min distance etc), by yourself, or with only a CFI on board but not logged as dual.

These can be flown in any sort of plane, no need to be HP/complex. The only complex dual time you need for initial SE CP is the 10hrs, part/all of which you'll receive while getting your complex endorsement, and landings/takeoffs during your checkride. Some people swap planes mid-checkride and do the maneuvers in a non-complex plane.
 
mtuomi said:
These can be flown in any sort of plane, no need to be HP/complex. The only complex dual time you need for initial SE CP is the 10hrs, part/all of which you'll receive while getting your complex endorsement, and landings/takeoffs during your checkride. Some people swap planes mid-checkride and do the maneuvers in a non-complex plane.
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Man, if all you're doing is the takeoffs and landings in the retract and you're cutting it that close (what, a total of 0.4?) on the ten hours, I'd laugh my butt off if someone told me they got done and either had the smarts to sit there with the engine idling somewhere until the Hobbs rolled over, or worse, shut down and realized they were 0.1 short.

Seems kinda silly to cut it that close. But I suppose people do it.
 
netsurfr said:
Help me out here... I too have a Dakota and was interested in the CPL but I thought you needed to do all the hours & XC on a High Performance & Complex airplane and since the Dakota doesn't have retract it's my understanding it does not qualify to meet the ratings requirement. Is that not correct cause if so then I have to circle back on this?
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As others point out, only two things are required to be in a complex airplane: the 10 hour complex training and the landing tasks in the PTS/ACS. HP isn't required for anything.
 
Ok thanks for clearing it up. I was under the misunderstanding that ALL the CPL hour requirements & XC HAD to be in a complex plane. I have some complex time in the books so will be looking at the CPL now that I know this.
 
netsurfr said:
Ok thanks for clearing it up. I was under the misunderstanding that ALL the CPL hour requirements & XC HAD to be in a complex plane. I have some complex time in the books so will be looking at the CPL now that I know this.
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Best bet, if you have trouble parsing 61.129, is to sit down with a CFI to review the requirements against what you already have in your logbook.

BTW, in addition to @denverpilot's comment a potential downside to the split checkride is probably the single most difficult part of it - commercial knowledge of the aircraft you bring to the ride.
 
I checked a few boxes at once and did the day/night dual XCs under the hood in an Arrow. I did the long solo XC and solo night/towered ops in a 162.
 
So if you have a lot of x-c with the wife that meets the long XC requiremnts. I'm sure you can find a flight where "oh yeah honey i remember you stayed home that time"
 
falconkidding said:
So if you have a lot of x-c with the wife that meets the long XC requiremnts. I'm sure you can find a flight where "oh yeah honey i remember you stayed home that time"
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This. The best way to do the commercial is to falsify ones logbook. Best way to start flying for a career.



Yes that was sarcasm.
 
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