CPL 300nm x-country flight

[A330 Dreamer]

I was just wondering when you apply for the CPL and the CAA look at the 300nm flight you did for the qualifier flight, how do they measure it?

is it "as the crow flies"? or is it all the legs on your route add up to more than 300nm?

Thanks in advance - just looking to know the answer so I pick airports at the distance required.

[r44flyer]

I would imagine it would just be the total of the legs, but within reason. ie. doing orbits before flying to two nearby airfields probably doesn't count!

A dog-leg over an enroute VOR would be more common.

There might be a further stipulation on the distance of the away landings from base, like the PPL (50nm), but I can't find it following a brief search :)

[Cobalt]

Hm. The wording in LASORS is not 100% clear either way. If you are planning it, I would definitely go for 300NM distance between airfields to be on the safe side. Would only include dog-legs if I had it from the CAA that this is acceptable.

BTW, you can fly from A to B to C so you don't have to return to A to qualify, as long as the A-B-C distance is 500NM. That sorted me out - I had several 500NM A-B-A return trips in my logbook, but on a ****ty day I had to divert due to weather so it became A-B-C and satisfied the "two airports away" condition.

[Superpilot]

Form a triangle that that equals 300nm in length. Then route around airspace, R and D areas. If your route falls slightly inside of 300nm then there's no reason why you can't extend one leg by routing via some slightly off route waypoint. You're right, there's no clear cut guidline but what I've suggested is what most people would agree is fair.