Stop and goes

MachFly

MachFly

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MachFly
I was talking to a few pilots today and an interesting question came up. Say you haven't done any landings in the past 90 days and need to go out and do the 3 touch and goes. If you go up at night and do 3 stop and goes, will that make it legal for you to fly (carry people) during the day?

I always thought you had to do 3 landings during the day and 3 at night, but doesn't look like the FAR says anything about that, just the night part.
 
I did stop n goes for my 3 landing at a controlled airport for my ppl shh don't tell anyone


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Yup, the three stop and goes qualifies for both day and night. No need to do three of each. I got this covered back when I had a TW plane and had to do 3 stop and goes for currency. I would go do them at night, and was good to go.
 
Yep, I've considered that a few times.

The home airport is a bit too short for that, but Oakland would work. It's not clear if blasting out the 17 miles each way really is shorter than three full stops at the home airport, but it's a nice flight.

A more interesting question is, if I have a really long runway, can I do all three stop'n'goes without going around the pattern? The reg doesn't say anything about patterns. How far off the ground do I have to get for it to be considered a separate landing?

There are runways long enough for that. For instance, KMER (12000x150).
 
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Don't you people like flying? Why not just fly the pattern, or if its quiet and you have the field to yourself some calm night blast off, do a 180, stop and do two more?

Bouncing the plane three times on one pass is hardly the intent of the reg.
 
If I was completely out of currency, both day and night, I'm not sure I'd trust myself to go out at night without an instructor...

...YMMV
 
Backtaxiing and taking off again is almost as fast as a stop and go.
 
I used to do the right 90-270 reversal turn at KSEE. The night guy was very accommodating. Usually go out in the evening with my girl and do acro, then back to the airport, have a light meal, then do my night/TW currency.
 
If you read the regs carefully, you'll see that 61.57(a) says nothing about day or night -- just a general requirement to have 3 takeoffs and 3 landings. 61.57(b) says that for night passenger flights, you must have three of each at night. So, 3/3 at night meets 61.57(a) for any passenger flight as well as 61.57(b) for night passenger flights.
 
I went through this with my DPE on my PPL checkride...it was a question he asked about currency. My answer was 'the way I understand it...if you do 3 night takeoff/landings to full stop you are current for both day and night. However, doing 3 daytime takeoff/landings to a full stop does not get you night current and you cannot carry passengers".

He said, "Nice job". So, I assume that's the right answer. :)
 
Ron Levy said:
If you read the regs carefully, you'll see that 61.57(a) says nothing about day or night -- just a general requirement to have 3 takeoffs and 3 landings. 61.57(b) says that for night passenger flights, you must have three of each at night. So, 3/3 at night meets 61.57(a) for any passenger flight as well as 61.57(b) for night passenger flights.
Click to expand...

It makes logical sense, but knowing that it's the FAA who made the rules I'd think that you'd have to do 3 for night and another 3 for day.
 
MachFly said:
It makes logical sense, but knowing that it's the FAA who made the rules I'd think that you'd have to do 3 for night and another 3 for day.
Click to expand...

Nope, some times even a blind pig finds an acorn. The FAA got this one right. 3 at night and you are good for day and night.
 
dmspilot said:
Backtaxiing and taking off again is almost as fast as a stop and go.
Click to expand...

Now, you can't say that for all situations.

Back-taxi has to wait for sequence. Stop'n'go doesn't. Sometimes it matters.

Sometimes even a no-traffic back taxi can get long if there aren't enough runway turnoffs or if taxiways are closed or otherwise maze-like.
 
There was a proposal to require flight at pattern attitude to qualify (but even then, not making a pattern), but that never came to fruition. I would assume that the sense of the FAA is that if you climb up to TPA and then can land again, it counts.

I've done this at IAD later in the evening. They had no problem with it.
 
MAKG1 said:
Yep, I've considered that a few times.

The home airport is a bit too short for that, but Oakland would work. It's not clear if blasting out the 17 miles each way really is shorter than three full stops at the home airport, but it's a nice flight.

A more interesting question is, if I have a really long runway, can I do all three stop'n'goes without going around the pattern? The reg doesn't say anything about patterns. How far off the ground do I have to get for it to be considered a separate landing?

There are runways long enough for that. For instance, KMER (12000x150).
Click to expand...

Hahah
 
MAKG1 said:
Now, you can't say that for all situations.



Back-taxi has to wait for sequence. Stop'n'go doesn't. Sometimes it matters.



Sometimes even a no-traffic back taxi can get long if there aren't enough runway turnoffs or if taxiways are closed or otherwise maze-like.
Click to expand...

I think you are confusing 'back taxi' with exiting the runway and taxiing back for departure.
 
Fearless Tower said:
I think you are confusing 'back taxi' with exiting the runway and taxiing back for departure.
Click to expand...

Well, you're right, but a true back taxi is often not an option, and is never a good idea if there are alternatives. You're a sitting duck on the runway. Even if you happen to be facing landing traffic, your options are limited.
 
Geico266 said:
Nope, some times even a blind pig finds an acorn. The FAA got this one right. 3 at night and you are good for day and night.
Click to expand...

I have been doing the same for the last 30+ years.... So far...... So good.:)
 
MachFly said:
I was talking to a few pilots today and an interesting question came up. Say you haven't done any landings in the past 90 days and need to go out and do the 3 touch and goes. If you go up at night and do 3 stop and goes, will that make it legal for you to fly (carry people) during the day?

I always thought you had to do 3 landings during the day and 3 at night, but doesn't look like the FAR says anything about that, just the night part.
Click to expand...

If you read each regulation the answer is obvious. . . RTFM.
 
MachFly said:
It makes logical sense, but knowing that it's the FAA who made the rules I'd think that you'd have to do 3 for night and another 3 for day.
Click to expand...
Many people make assumptions about the regulations without reading them carefully. Most of the time, the regulations mean just what they say -- no more, no less, and this is one of those times.
 
flyingron said:
There was a proposal to require flight at pattern attitude to qualify (but even then, not making a pattern), but that never came to fruition. I would assume that the sense of the FAA is that if you climb up to TPA and then can land again, it counts.
Click to expand...
I think that had more to do with people who don't normally fly traffic patterns (e.g., aircraft which only go places and almost always go straight in/straight out) than with altitude reached. This contrasts with the 61.129 CP-Airplane night solo requirement "with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern." Their intent there was, I believe, to familiarize the CP trainee with the problems involved in traffic patterns at night, not just the landings themselves. I don't think they even thought about anybody doing three stop-and-goes on a 10,000-foot runway when they wrote the 61.57 rules.
 
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