I’m a student pilot, and I want to meet my friend for a couple of hours at an airport away from my home airport. I have all my minimums done, but I’m just waiting to take the check ride. I’m wondering if it is ok for a student pilot to use their license for something other than a training flight and actually go somewhere for a purpose? (obviously, I’ll have all my endorsements).
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3$\begingroup$ What country are you referring to? $\endgroup$– MD88FanJul 12, 2021 at 23:02
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12$\begingroup$ As a CFI I would be hesitant to sign off on this. Too much gettheritis risk and a lot of pressure for the student to "make it work" to impress a friend/keep to a schedule. I don't think there is a legal problem, however. It's essentially just a solo flight to have lunch somewhere. $\endgroup$– acpilotJul 12, 2021 at 23:06
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7$\begingroup$ Entirely disagree with "opinion based." Either this is a legal plan, or it isn't. That's perfectly clear-cut, no opinions involved. If we want to speculate about what weather or airports or attitudes or whatever else might influence a CFI's willingness to sign off on the XC, then those questions could bring "opinion" factors into the picture, but that isn't what I see being asked. At all. VTLO. $\endgroup$– Ralph JJul 13, 2021 at 1:40
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4$\begingroup$ Based on your previous questions, I added the faa-regulations tag because it seems very likely that you're asking about the US. If I got that wrong then of course you can simply remove it. Please always tell us which country you're asking about for questions on regulations, standard practices etc. because things can be very different in different parts of the world. $\endgroup$– PondlifeJul 13, 2021 at 3:13
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4$\begingroup$ @KennSebesta add a VtC - more useful that way $\endgroup$– FreeManJul 13, 2021 at 15:13
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1 Answer
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I'm going to answer this from the purely regulatory point of view as asking is you should do something is subjective and therefore off-topic as opinion based.
There's no regulation in any jurisdiction I know of that would prevent you from doing this, cross country flying is part of getting your ticket and nothing says you can't do something while you land away. It's not something typically done on a qualifying cross country, the point is to get it done in the time frame allotted and get back safely.
Once you have your qualifying flights done other cross country flying is at the discretion of your instructor, who would make a decision based on a number of factors like your readiness, distance and complexity of the flight, potential hazards and his/her own workload - remember that instructors are responsible for you while you are on that flight so they have to keep tabs on you, which takes work. By all means have the conversation.
