First Solo Cross Country

Objectives

• Allow the student to exercise their cross country skills on their own

• Help satisfy the requirements of 14 CFR 61.109(a)(5)(i), which is five hours of solo cross country instruction

Session Details

The first solo cross country will be a duplicate of one of the dual cross country flights already performed. The goal here is to allow the student to repeat a flight already flown so that the major change is that they are doing it alone. All the checkpoints should be familiar, as well as the destination airport.

For a flight to count as a cross country, for the purposes of the required aeronautical experience for a private pilot certificate, the straight-line distance between takeoff and landing must be greater than 50nm. Anything less will not count as a cross country flight.

I’ll remind students of George Scheer’s article detailing how to prepare for a cross-country flight an an article written by George Scheer is a great place to start. I’d view it as mandatory reading prior to our first X/C flight. I will expect the student to fill out a cross-country flight log prior to the day of the flight. Obviously, it can only be filled out just so far as it has to be completed with the actual forecast winds on the day of the flight.

Resources/References

Articles

• [VFR Cross-Country Planning]

Lesson Plans

These are individual lesson plans, keyed to the ACS, which discuss the topics included in this flight lesson. Each of the references below will have further references to additional FAA documents which address the individual topics in depth.

• 2.F : Airplane Weight and Balance

• 2.G : Navigation and Flight Planning

• 2.K : National Airspace System

• 2.L : Navigation Systems and Radar Services