Commercial "Solo" Requirements

Benji86

Benji86

New Member
I have a question for the instructors, In reading the requirements for the Commercial rating , the long cross country requires not more than 300 Nm total distance for the trip, and 250 nm for one leg, and it must be "solo". I am a bit confused on the solo part. Does this mean that the applicant must be the sole operator of the aircraft in flight, or the sole occupant of the a/c in flight? Any help would be appreciated on clearing this up!
 
Benji86 said:
I have a question for the instructors, In reading the requirements for the Commercial rating , the long cross country requires not more than 300 Nm total distance for the trip, and 250 nm for one leg, and it must be "solo". I am a bit confused on the solo part. Does this mean that the applicant must be the sole operator of the aircraft in flight, or the sole occupant of the a/c in flight? Any help would be appreciated on clearing this up!
Click to expand...

No pax.
 
61.129 Aeronautical experience.
(A)For an airplane single-engine rating
(4)(i) One cross-country flight of not less than 300 nautical miles total distance, with landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is a straight-line distance of at least 250 nautical miles from the original departure point.


61.51 Pilot logbooks.
(d) Logging of solo flight time. Except for a student pilot performing the duties of pilot in command of an airship requiring more than one pilot flight crewmember, a pilot may log as solo flight time only that flight time when the pilot is the sole occupant of the aircraft.
 
I asked my FSDO about this one when I was converting my JAA PPL to an unrestricted FAA private Cert..

Solo means solo... no other persons onboard. He told me a story about making people redo the flights with the FSDO watching the departure to ensure 'solo'.
 
Benji86 said:
I have a question for the instructors, In reading the requirements for the Commercial rating , the long cross country requires not more than 300 Nm total distance for the trip, and 250 nm for one leg, and it must be "solo". I am a bit confused on the solo part. Does this mean that the applicant must be the sole operator of the aircraft in flight, or the sole occupant of the a/c in flight? Any help would be appreciated on clearing this up!
Click to expand...

Wing_96 said:
61.129 Aeronautical experience.
(A)For an airplane single-engine rating
(4)(i) One cross-country flight of not less than 300 nautical miles total distance, with landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is a straight-line distance of at least 250 nautical miles from the original departure point.


61.51 Pilot logbooks.
(d) Logging of solo flight time. Except for a student pilot performing the duties of pilot in command of an airship requiring more than one pilot flight crewmember, a pilot may log as solo flight time only that flight time when the pilot is the sole occupant of the aircraft.
Click to expand...

big difference in the more than, not less than.....

solo is solo......
 
ryanmickG said:
I don't see why this is so confusing.
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I don't know that this is the reason, but you know how sometimes incorrect concepts get handed down without knowing where they came from? Well, long before the FARs and the creation of the concept of "logged PIC," the CAR had it's own word for flight time logged toward the requirements for certificates and ratings as the "sole manipulator of the controls."

Can you guess what that word was?
 
At ATP (the flight school), all the commercial x-countries are done with 2 people in the aircraft. Usually its another commercial student, both pilots have their private multi engine land - instrument.

To my knowledge none of the examiners have ever had a problem with it and they still continue to do this.

So, to my knowledge the cross country does not need to be "SOLO".
 
3enginejock said:
At ATP (the flight school), all the commercial x-countries are done with 2 people in the aircraft. Usually its another commercial student, both pilots have their private multi engine land - instrument.

To my knowledge none of the examiners have ever had a problem with it and they still continue to do this.

So, to my knowledge the cross country does not need to be "SOLO".
Click to expand...

Wow...:banghead:
 
3enginejock said:
At ATP (the flight school), all the commercial x-countries are done with 2 people in the aircraft. Usually its another commercial student, both pilots have their private multi engine land - instrument.

To my knowledge none of the examiners have ever had a problem with it and they still continue to do this.

So, to my knowledge the cross country does not need to be "SOLO".
Click to expand...
Are you aware that there are 3 commercial cross countries and that 2 of them are dual?

Or are you talking about the commercial multi solo cross countries? All commercial multi solo requirements can use the "performing the duties of pilot in command in a multiengine airplane with an authorized instructor" option =instead= of solo. I can understand the validity of an interpretation where this would not prohibit someone else being on board.
 
MidlifeFlyer said:
Are you aware that there are 3 commercial cross countries and that 2 of them are dual?

Or are you talking about the commercial multi solo cross countries? All commercial multi solo requirements can use the "performing the duties of pilot in command in a multiengine airplane with an authorized instructor" option =instead= of solo. I can understand the validity of an interpretation where this would not prohibit someone else being on board.
Click to expand...
Except ATP does the Private Multi first thing so th PDPIC thing does not work as they are rated for category and class.
 
Benji86 said:
I have a question for the instructors, In reading the requirements for the Commercial rating , the long cross country requires not more than 300 Nm total distance for the trip, and 250 nm for one leg, and it must be "solo". I am a bit confused on the solo part. Does this mean that the applicant must be the sole operator of the aircraft in flight, or the sole occupant of the a/c in flight? Any help would be appreciated on clearing this up!
Click to expand...

The applicant MUST be flying the aircraft SOLO.....no exceptions.
 
3enginejock said:
At ATP (the flight school), all the commercial x-countries are done with 2 people in the aircraft. Usually its another commercial student, both pilots have their private multi engine land - instrument.

To my knowledge none of the examiners have ever had a problem with it and they still continue to do this.

So, to my knowledge the cross country does not need to be "SOLO".
Click to expand...

Actually you are incorrect. At ATP Its ALWAYS done with an Instructor which is perfectly legal in a muti engine airplane.

cfii2007 said:
The applicant MUST be flying the aircraft SOLO.....no exceptions.
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one exception :P If doing the comercial checkride in a twin, You can do "supervised solo". The FAA pretty much knows that no one is going to let a student fly a twin solo
 
Wing_96 said:
One cross-country flight of not less than 300 nautical miles total distance, with landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is a straight-line distance of at least 250 nautical miles from the original departure point.
Click to expand...


At ATP PHX I went to my MEI check-ride with June Bonesteel. She went over my logbooks line by line, she came to my commercial cross country line, and then went to airnav.com and checked the distance from the "Original departure point" and it only came to 247 miles! 3 miles short! My instructor thought he solved that problem by flying to another town first, but we both missed the word "original" when planning this out.

She refused to take the checkride even though I already had my commercial license, so ATP shipped me to JAX where I took it and passed.
 
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