Legal Interpretations
Chase-SchoolofAeronauticalScience 2012
Summary
The Question
Does a student pilot need a logbook endorsement, a student pilot certificate endorsement, or both to make repeated solo cross-country flights under 14 CFR 61.93(b)(2)(iv)?
Background
The assistant chief instructor at the School of Aeronautical Science asked which endorsements a student pilot needs to make repeated solo cross-country flights under 14 CFR 61.93.
The FAA’s Interpretation
Both. 14 CFR 61.93(c) requires endorsements for each cross-country flight except as provided in 14 CFR 61.93(b)(2), whose exception in 14 CFR 61.93(b)(2)(iv) lets a student already holding the 14 CFR 61.93(c) endorsement make repeated solo flights to another airport within 50 nautical miles of the departure airport without separate endorsements for each flight. The student needs both the logbook endorsement in 14 CFR 61.93(b)(2)(ii) and the student pilot certificate endorsement in 14 CFR 61.93(c)(1).
- Requester
- Chase
- Organization
- SchoolofAeronauticalScience
- Issued
- May 18, 2012
- Subject
- Pilot Certification & Privileges
Regulations Cited
Page 1
U.S. Deportment "
of Transportation
Federal Aviation
Administration
Bruce A. Chase
Assistant Chief Instructor
School of Aeronautical Science
Abbot Aviation Center
200 Airpark Dr.
Longview, TX 75603
Dear Mr. Chase:
Office of the Chief Counsel
800 Independence Ave ., SW.
Washington, DC 20591
This is in response to your request for interpretation of 14 C.F.R. § 61.93 Solo cross-country flight requirements, in which you ask whether a student needs the logbook endorsement, the student pilot certificate endorsement, or both endorsements to be authorized to conduct repeated solo cross-country flights.
Section 61.93(c) Endorsements for solo cross-country flights says that a student must have the endorsements prescribed in this paragraph for each cross-country flight, except as · specified in paragraph (b)(2) ofthis sectiqn (emph~is added). The limited exception in§ 61.93(b)(2)(iv) permits a student who already has the endorsement specified in paragraph§ 61.93 (c) to make repeated solo cross-country flights to another airport within 50 nautical miles of the airport from which the flight originated without having to have separate endorsements for each flight, which would normally be required under paragraph § 61.93(c)(2). Thus, the short answer to your question is the student must have both a logbook endorsement found in § 61.93(b)(2)(ii) and a student pilot certificate endorsement found in § 61.93(c)(l) to make the repeated solo cross-country flights permitted under§ 61.93(b)(2)(iv).
We hope this response is helpful to you. If you have additional questions regarding this matter, please contact my staff.at (202) 267-3073. This response was prepared by Neal O'Hara, an attorney in the Regulations Division of the Office of the Chief Counsel, and was coordinated with the General Aviation and Commercial Division of the Flight Standards Service.
Sincerel y, ft-j._¥~
Rebecca B. MacPherson
Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations, AGC-200
Regulations Referenced
Snapshot retrieved August 6, 2026.