Legal Interpretations
Hilliard 2009
Summary
The Question
When two pilots each manipulate the controls for part of a flight requiring one crewmember, may either log cross-country time toward 14 CFR 61.65(d)?
Background
A requester described two appropriately certificated pilots sharing a flight in an aircraft requiring one flight crewmember, each serving as sole manipulator of the controls for a portion, and asked whether each could log cross-country time for that portion.
The FAA’s Interpretation
No. Following the Gebhart interpretation, 14 CFR 61.65(d) contemplates that only the pilot conducting the entire flight, including takeoff, landing, and en route flight, as a required flight crewmember may log cross-country time. The requirement is meant to give one pilot experience flying a significant distance and landing away from home, so neither pilot may log it.
- Requester
- Hilliard
- Issued
- December 1, 2009
- Subject
- Pilot Certification & Privileges
Regulations Cited
Page 1
U.S. Department
of Transportation
Federol Aviation
Administration
DEC 1 2009
James Hilliard
Dear Mr. Hilliard:
Office of the Chief Counsel 800 Independence Ave .. S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20591
This responds to your request for a legal interpretation dated October 12, 2009. Your letter requests clarification concerning the logging of cross-country time to meet the aeronautical experience requirements under 14 C.F .R. § 61.65(d). This response is being issued simultaneously with legal interpretations to Ted Louis Glenn and Dwight B. Van Zanen, both of whi~h address questions concerning logging cross-country time and are enclosed. Your letter presents two scenarios to illustrate your question about how a pilot may log cross-country time under § 61.65(d). Because these two scenarios are substantially identical with each of two pilots flying only a portion of a cross-country flight, this response will not address these scenarios separately.
In the scenario, Pilot A and Pilot B, who hold pilot certificates and ratings appropriate to the aircraft, take a flight in an aircraft for which one flight crewrnember is required. Pilot A and Pilot B each are the sole manipulator of the controls for a portion of the flight. You ask whether each pilot may log cross-country time for the portion of the flight during which that pilot was the sole manipulator of the controls.
In interpreting whether a safety pilot could log cross-country time, the FAA stated that § 61.65(d) contemplates that only the pilot conducting the entire flight, including takeoff, landing, and en route flight, as a required flight crewrnember may log cross-country time. See Gebhart Interpretation. That interpretation did not address how two pilots who trade off manipulation of the controls may log cross-country time. However, that interpretation is applicable to this scenario. The rationale behind the cross-country requirement is to provide a pilot with aeronautical experience flying a significant distance to and landing at an airport that is not the pilot's home airport. Section 61.65 contemplates that one pilot is gaining that aeronautical experience. Accordingly, in this scenario, neither pilot may log cross-country time to meet the cross-country requirements under§ 61.65(d).
Page 2
This response was prepared by Robert Hawks, an Attorney in the Regulations Division of the Office of Chief Counsel and coordinated with the Certification and General Aviation Operations Branch of Flight Standards Service. We hope this response has been helpful to you. If you have additional questions regarding this matter, please contact us at your convenience at (202) 267-3073.
Sincerely,
~1-kf~
Rebecca B. MacPherson
Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations, AGC-200
Enclosures
Regulations Referenced
Snapshot retrieved August 6, 2026.