Can Long Cross-Country Flight Requirement Cover Multiple Days?

It is possible to satisfy the 300 nm commercial stipulation on a family trip.

Meg Godlewski

Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 11:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Ryan Ewing

Modern avionics make cross-country flight easier. [Credit: FLYING Archive]

Key Takeaways:

The 300 nm commercial cross-country flight requirement can be completed over multiple days and multiple legs.
cFAR 61.129 (4)(1) does not indicate that the flight needs to be accomplished in a single day.
To qualify, the flight must cover a total distance of at least 300 nautical miles, include landings at a minimum of three points, and feature at least one leg with a straight-line distance of 250 nm from the original departure point.

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Question: For the 300 nm commercial cross-country requirement, can that be over a multiple-day, multiple-leg trip and still count? For example, weather permitting, I’m considering flying from Colorado to Arizona over New Year’s to see family, but it would be one-way on say [December 30] and return on [January 2]. It’s well over 250 nm each way, and if I do a touch-and-go and one other airport along the way, would that still satisfy the requirement and count as a cross-country trip even though it’s different days?

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Answer: The pertinent part of cFAR 61.129 (4)(1), the regulation that covers the cross-country experience requirement for the commercial certificate, states: “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.”