Am I allowed to do a touch n' go at an airport then depart?

You can also do stop and gos on the runway if it is long enough as one of the "options."
With the amount of FAR lawyers on here, I'm surprised that nobody brought up the question, "is a stop-and-go the same as a full-stop?"
AIM 4-3-22 said:
Option Approach
The "Cleared for the Option" procedure will permit an instructor, flight examiner or pilot the option to make a touch-and-go, low approach, missed approach, stop-and-go, or full stop landing. ...
It looks like a stop-and-go is (in the FAA's eyes) different than a full stop. If they want three full-stops, does two stop-and-gos and one full-stop count?
 
(removed this part to keep it calm in here) I have the plane for a small block and need to get it home for the next person who booked it. I will definitely do full stop taxi backs during the other solo XC trips.

Edit: THe second stop during this flight is KMOD, a proclaimed super nice airport for new people so my CFI recommended I stop and say hi to all the clubs.

MOD is one of the friendlier fields, controllers included. The crapper is kind of far from the SS fuel, but every open hangar has a fridge and a bottle of water it seems. The climbout to the north can be a little harrowing the first time...you hit the end of the runway and are right over a tree-covered downtown and the doubletree hotel off your nose....

MCC is a decent stop. Cheapest fuel in NorCal and an AWESOME FBO in my opinion.

I'll even pay FS to not taxi over if I need a nice place to cool off and take a leak.


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To the OP: It's imperative you understand the rues under which your license is issued. Read the FARS. I doubt your instructor was wrong, this is bread & butter stuff for a working CFI.
Believe me, if you are unclear or cavelier about the regulations your check ride will feel long and uncomfortable, and there's every chance unsuccessful.
Good luck, enjoy the flight, stop, stretch, check the fuel and have a chat to someone. The most unlikely looking folks at an airport will have stories you can only imagine, and wisdom that may keep you alive..
 
but looking it up doesn't generate as much comedy/drama/etc. :) discussion and perspectives are why people come here right?
Yes and no. If the answer is pretty much cut and dry in the regs or other easily researched material then that is where one should go. If one does need perspectives or experiences beyond what is in the book or silly monkey stories then this place is great for that.
 
QFT. Especially in Indiana in my experience. F-ing people in that state are too darn friendly - made me so late one time getting to KC Kansas I lined up on a highway and had to side-step to OJC after 1am....

Having been born and raised in Indiana, I must say that we do have our fair share of friendly and nice people but we also have our share of pilots. :D
 
Sheeeeeeetttt ma,.....I woulda end up in Vegas if ATC hadn't pointed me in the right direction on my long XC. Out of Palomar, In LA class Bravo, completely turned around, getting vector turned like the tea cups at Disneyland....


I had no effing clue. Finally Heard, " fly heading xxx, RIV is 10 miles at 12 o clock." Stopped, shut down, swore I was gonna just catch a Greyhound home and quit.

Now I'm like pfshhhhhh.....whatever, spin me. Honey badger don't care.
 
I flew to Pocono airport and thought it would be a good idea to use lakes as checkpoints. Problem is, there's like 10000000 lakes on the way to the Poconos, got screwed up with my timing and heading and was lost. I climbed up higher and saw the Pocono racetrack and eventually found the airport. It was a fun day.
 
With the amount of FAR lawyers on here, I'm surprised that nobody brought up the question, "is a stop-and-go the same as a full-stop?"
It looks like a stop-and-go is (in the FAA's eyes) different than a full stop. If they want three full-stops, does two stop-and-gos and one full-stop count?
Yes. Full stop means you stop moving. Nothing more. Afterward, you can leave the runway and taxi back to the threshold (or parking), or if there is enough runway, you can just take off from where you stopped.
 
When I did mine, about 40 years ago I was required to have my logbook signed at each stop...

Me, too. Now I have my students send a digital selfie with the plane and something recognizable from the airport at each stop.
 
Yes. Full stop means you stop moving. Nothing more. Afterward, you can leave the runway and taxi back to the threshold (or parking), or if there is enough runway, you can just take off from where you stopped.

Wait. I thought they had to do a full stop. Shutdown. Lunch. Full preflight and a hot start to qualify? Have I been teaching it wrong??

:D
 
Me, too. Now I have my students send a digital selfie with the plane and something recognizable from the airport at each stop.
My instructor just took my word for it.
 
Yes. Full stop means you stop moving. Nothing more. Afterward, you can leave the runway and taxi back to the threshold (or parking), or if there is enough runway, you can just take off from where you stopped.

Makes sense from a pure logical standpoint.

It is interesting though that the AIM seems to differentiate between the two phrases in the following excerpts.

4-3-22. Option Approach
The "Cleared for the Option" procedure will permit an instructor, flight examiner or pilot the option to make a touch-and-go, low approach, missed approach, stop-and-go, or full stop landing.

Two definitions from AIM Pilot/Controller Glossary
OPTION APPROACH− An approach requested and conducted by a pilot which will result in either a touch-and-go, missed approach, low approach, stop-and-go, or full stop landing.
STOP AND GO− A procedure wherein an aircraft will land, make a complete stop on the runway, and then commence a takeoff from that point.

So they appear to be different animals but since I am unaware of a "full stop" definition, it is a bit hard to be certain.

But you can always try a little experiment: after a few circuits with the option, tell the tower that you will be full stop and then do a stop and go and see what they have to say to you.
 
Makes sense from a pure logical standpoint.

It is interesting though that the AIM seems to differentiate between the two phrases in the following excerpts.



Two definitions from AIM Pilot/Controller Glossary



So they appear to be different animals but since I am unaware of a "full stop" definition, it is a bit hard to be certain.

But you can always try a little experiment: after a few circuits with the option, tell the tower that you will be full stop and then do a stop and go and see what they have to say to you.

A stop'n'go is a full stop, but some full stops are not stop'n'goes. Tower will care whether or not you intend to use the upwind.

The point of the full stop regs is that some airplanes are much easier to control at high speed than low, and it isn't possible to do a full stop on less than three wheels like you can a touch'n'go.

How do you define the difference? Whether you stop on the runway or a taxiway? The reg doesn't even require you to land at an airport, let alone use a taxiway. And some airports don't even have taxiways.
 
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Makes sense from a pure logical standpoint.

It is interesting though that the AIM seems to differentiate between the two phrases in the following excerpts.



Two definitions from AIM Pilot/Controller Glossary



So they appear to be different animals but since I am unaware of a "full stop" definition, it is a bit hard to be certain.

But you can always try a little experiment: after a few circuits with the option, tell the tower that you will be full stop and then do a stop and go and see what they have to say to you.
The context is different. I don't think that can be ignored. We can't assume that the people who wrote the cross country solo requirement meant the same thing by "full stop" as the people who wrote the definitions of the types of options.

There is precedent for the FAA using the same term to mean different things in different contexts. Acting as PIC vs. logging PIC is an example (spelled out in Chief Counsel opinions). Category and class are two more examples, spelled out in FAR 1.1.
 
My instructor trusted me too. Meant a lot to me.

I didn't think about it one way or the other. Nobody told me about the practice of getting people to sign one's logbook at solo destinations, nor did it occur to me that anyone would try to fake their solo cross countries. I guess my instructor must have considered it unlikely.

So I repayed him by texting ridiculous pictures of myself at each destination.
I did my PPL training before the advent of affordable digital cameras.
 
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Well done OP!!!

What's wrong with lumber? I own two lumberyards.

Never had a problem with OAK. Now the tower guys at SQL need a Prozac or Xanax or something. Good lord. I do most of my approaches at KSAC or KSTS.

God I love flying. And classic comedies. And booze.
 
My instructor trusted me too. Meant a lot to me. So I repayed him by texting ridiculous pictures of myself at each destination.

I don't think "trust" is as much an issue as covering your bases if the examiner questions anything. The old practice of getting a signature (often from FSS personnel) was quite common 40 years ago...when we still had FSS staffed at many small airports. Now I can just look in the flight log of the Garmin 496 in the airplane. But the pics are fun souvenirs.
 
I don't think "trust" is as much an issue as covering your bases if the examiner questions anything. The old practice of getting a signature (often from FSS personnel) was quite common 40 years ago...when we still had FSS staffed at many small airports. Now I can just look in the flight log of the Garmin 496 in the airplane. But the pics are fun souvenirs.
I did my flight training out of WAY southern Arizona. I couldn't find a soul at half the airports out in that desert.
 
My instructor trusted me too. Meant a lot to me. So I repayed him by texting ridiculous pictures of myself at each destination.

Well just because Flight Training magazine wouldn't publish your pics to go with your article, we POAers know what a treat it was to read your masterpiece on here. I'd even go as far as calling it classic!
 
When I did mine, about 40 years ago I was required to have my logbook signed at each stop...

I started flying in 1974 and wasn't required by my CFI to have my logbook signed at each stop. When I became a CFI a few years later I didn't require it of my students either. It was not a requirement then but maybe it was in the past, I really don't know. I figure you're already trusting a student for fly solo and they should realize they're only cheating their self if they cheat.
 
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And I only laugh, because when I 'practiced' my first forced landing... It was at an abandoned airfield (44A) that doesn't even have a road to it. Took my instructor nearly an hour and a half to drive out there to pick up the plane.


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No, it was Douglas, P03. But you at least know what I mean then.
 
I think I've mentioned this before, but I happened to be at the FBO when a foreign student of mine taxied in from his long cross-country...

...and I watched as a fellow student deplaned from the passenger seat.

Needless to say, I was not happy, and he had to redo the solo cross-country properly.
 
I had to have my log book signed at each stop. Most airports had a stamp with their name on it which they stamped your book with. The CFI checked it when I returned. Seems logical to me. As for touch and goes, I've done many simply by announcing my intentions clearly and then doing them.
 
lol. My CFI responds to my texts once every... actually, never. I end up calling
I have to come to his defense on that one. When I was instructing full time, receiving texts 24/7 about everything from scheduling to complex ground school subjects became very difficult to keep up with. The second year I was doing that, I simply told everyone to send any questions that do not require an immediate response to my email. It made life easier for me, and allowed me to answer their questions more thoroughly.
 
This requirement can be a little confusing unless properly taught by the instructor. The student has done many touch and goes, and may think he is to land, stop, and take off from the runway, rather than stopping on the taxiway or the ramp, returning to the runway end and departing from there. Short runway, hot temperatures = potential disaster. I saw a nice airplane last week that may be totaled because of the student pilot taking off from mid field after a full stop during his cross country flights. The airplane was lifted off too soon, drifted left and hit a taxi light with the horz stab, then clipped both wingtips (high wing Cessna) trying to get it to fly. No injuries but could have been far more serious. Should he have known better? Sure, but it happened. A huge fault may be that of the instructor for not ensuring the student was ready to make only wise decisions.
 
I know the flight is already over with but one thought...

If you're booking the rental so tight that you "must be back" you're building a habit that's not good. One of get-home-itis. Don't paint yourself into a corner like that, it'll show up to bite you later in your flying career in bad habits learned being on too tight a schedule. Just sayin'...

lol. My CFI responds to my texts once every... actually, never. I end up calling

Some of us are old enough to remember when text messaging didn't exist and also have bifocals and small phone keyboards. Hahaha. My current CFI is in his 70s and types with one finger. I never email or text him. It'd almost be rude. Hahaha.

My favorite CFI text story lately was from a younger CFI who posted "student problems..." and a screenshot of a back and forth on his phone from a student that went something like this...

"I forgot to turn on the fuel pump to start the engine and it's running now and I'm not sure if that's okay...?"

"So the engine is running and you're texting me?"

"Yes."

"And you're not on fire?"

"No."

"Sounds like no problem to me. Put the phone away and go flying."


I'm sending my first student off for solo cross-countries soon.

I feel like I'd rather he not get out and hang out at an airport, but rather, stay in go-mode. If he needs a breather, fine. But I feel like it helps to limit the other stuff going on. Any thoughts either way?

@Cajun_Flyer, your long XC was epic, maybe it should be the model instead?

Similar to my opening comment. Don't teach "go mode" it leads to get-home-it's. Teach to stop if you feel any reason to at all and re-evaluate, re-preflight, re-check weather, and treat it like its a new flight with a new go/no-go decision, like it should always be, heck even a T&G and heading to the next airport should be in your student's heads. No need to hurry them.

It was a TON of fun. No rush and ended up home 10 min early.

That's kinda close on scheduling, as mentioned above. Blowing 10 minutes checking something that doesn't seem right or problems at a remote airport (ever have to wait around a half an hour to find the damn fuel truck guy who went to lunch and took the keys to the truck with him? Haha. I have...) can eat 10 minutes in a hurry and then give you a false sense of needing to hurry up. Don't fly hurried. It'll lead to problems, I promise.

They make a nice momento.

They do. Many places you go never had anyone at the counter but they had a sign in book. I've flipped back through the book years later on the next visit to the airport and found where I was last there and what I wrote the last time.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I happened to be at the FBO when a foreign student of mine taxied in from his long cross-country...

...and I watched as a fellow student deplaned from the passenger seat.

Needless to say, I was not happy, and he had to redo the solo cross-country properly.

Ohhhhh I bet you were mad... Wow.

I've heard of a couple of CFIs who needed to do a currency flight or whatever jumping in a much faster airplane and beating their students to the third stop just to surprise them, since they didn't have someone else booked that day. But neither had a student pull that stupidity... They were standing in the FBO at the stop and handed humorous "landing scorecards" as a joke to their students when they arrived. Stuff like "extra points for the six bounces"... pre-printed on them.

Then they got in the faster airplane and beat the students back home. Heh.
 
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