Logging Multi-Day Trip

Somedudeintn

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somedudeintn
I believe this has been asked before my my search skills have failed me. Am I correct in thinking that I can log a multi day trip as one flight?

Today I flew LZU-LOU-IND and I'll fly back tomorrow. I was thinking about using this flight as my commercial long x-c (commercial is a long way away but I figure I might as well knock out the requirement. If I fly back tomorrow and plan on stopping at 1 other airport other than LOU. Would I be good to use this total 2 day flight as my long x-c, or should I split up the days and land at 2 other airports tomorrow in addition to my destination?
 
I don't see why you couldn't log it as your long cross country. No time limit on how long you can sit on the ground at each destination.
 
Your still on the same trip till you get back to your starting point.
 
I personally don't log multiple days as a single XC.
New day, new line in the logbook.
 
I do a single line for each day, like Ed.

That said, I also see no reason why you couldn't log this as your commercial XC provided it met all the other requirements. It is a single trip.
 
I just took a look at the commercial requirements and with the exception of the night XC I'm pretty sure I meet all of them already, though some unintentionally. Is there any limitation on how recent these requirements have to have been met, or can you just go through your log book and find the flights that meet the criteria?
 
I just took a look at the commercial requirements and with the exception of the night XC I'm pretty sure I meet all of them already, though some unintentionally. Is there any limitation on how recent these requirements have to have been met, or can you just go through your log book and find the flights that meet the criteria?
This is pretty much what I did.
 
I log a new line for every leg that I pretty much get outta the plane. I do a lot of multi day XC trips as well and will eventually get my commercial. I asked my IFR DPE if the long solo XC that I wanted to use towards my commercial when it comes that time had to be on one single line or one day. He said no problem having the long XC to be used to meet that requirement being logged as multiple legs over multiple days on multiple lines as long as it was obviously clear that the point of origin, the multiple stops, the NM requirements and point of return were in sequence and it was one overall XC trip.
 
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Today I flew LZU-LOU-IND and I'll fly back tomorrow. I was thinking about using this flight as my commercial long x-c (commercial is a long way away but I figure I might as well knock out the requirement. If I fly back tomorrow and plan on stopping at 1 other airport other than LOU.

You wouldn't even need to stop at another airport than LOU if you didn't want. You'll be landing at 3 airports between the two days - LOU, IND, (LOU again) and LZU - and a leg is more than 250 nm, 300nm total so you meet the requirements.

Oh, and just to make sure since you weren't specific in your OP, remember these have to be solo - nobody else in the plane.
 
Its your logbook. Do it however you want too as long as you don't lie....

Sometimes I do one logbook entry per N#each month just to save the time of writing it all down.
 
When I was younger, I always started a new trip on a new day.

Now, though, one trip can last three or four days.
 
You wouldn't even need to stop at another airport than LOU if you didn't want. You'll be landing at 3 airports between the two days - LOU, IND, (LOU again) and LZU - and a leg is more than 250 nm, 300nm total so you meet the requirements.

Oh, and just to make sure since you weren't specific in your OP, remember these have to be solo - nobody else in the plane.

Good call. The flight was completed successfully and done solo.
 
Ok how about this scenario. I flew from CRQ to O69 (petaluma) solo on day 1, total of 402 miles and a little over 3 hours. Day 2 I took a scenic flight with friends starting and ending at O69 with no stops. Day 3 I flew from O69 to KPAO solo, 53miles .5hours. Day 4 I flew back to KCRQ solo 351miles 2.7hours.

Everything was solo except for the scenic flight, and it was all done in one continuous loop. Would having that scenic flight in the middle screw it all up, or would the DPE just ignore it since it was obviously unrelated and isn't being used to meet any requirement?
 
You wouldn't even need to stop at another airport than LOU if you didn't want. You'll be landing at 3 airports between the two days - LOU, IND, (LOU again) and LZU - and a leg is more than 250 nm, 300nm total so you meet the requirements.

Oh, and just to make sure since you weren't specific in your OP, remember these have to be solo - nobody else in the plane.

the solo requirement always seemed odd to me. Sole pilot on board would seem to be the equivalent and perhaps even more relevant, with normal passenger distractions.
 
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For this requirement, does solo mean ACTUALLY alone, or just NOT DUAL?
 
For this requirement, does solo mean ACTUALLY alone, or just NOT DUAL?

When you solo as a student did you take someone up with you that wasn't your instructor?

Solo means solo. Not with grandma, or your wife, or another living person.

You can take your dog (or other non-human pet) with you if you like.
 
For this requirement, does solo mean ACTUALLY alone, or just NOT DUAL?

My IFR CFII told me that solo meant only PILOT on board, not only soul on board which I knew was not correct when it came to the commercial long XC specifically.

I asked my IFR DPE about it just to make sure I was right. He said that the logic behind it is that even though other occupants are not pilots, they can and do help with pilot workload such as being another set of eyes for traffic, spotting airfields, folding a sectional, getting the sandwich and water bottle outta the back seat...and so on. If you are solo, you have to manage ALL the tasks inside the cockpit on your own with no assistance which is important in a commercial application.

Made sense to me.
 
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