One of the easy-to-accomplish tasks toward my commercial pilot licence is the cross-country flight time as pilot in command. I need 50hrs and I think I almost got it. Since I work toward a licence the flights have to cover at least 50 nautical miles in a straight line. Funny thing though – Switzerland is so small I fly across it all the time. My first cross-country in the USA was a little hop to the pacific ocean. If I plot the same distance from my home field it would be out of country in any direction… Hard to imagine how big the United States are! But…

… in Switzerland I can hop >50nm in any direction and the language changes. This picture was taken two days ago on my way back from Lausanne. 50.4nm from my home base and the pilots in the pattern all spoke french. Must be hard to imagine for Americans. 😉

By the way, one guy in a Jet Ranger helicopter pulled out in front of me when I was on base (and I was number 3 in sequence). According to the FAR he would have had the right of way* because he was lower and on final. On this particular airport though airplanes on base have priority. Either way – straight in approaches are traffic permitting. I went around and was actually happy about the practice!

*

FAR 91.113

(g) Landing. Aircraft, while on final approach to land or while landing, have the right-of-way over other aircraft in flight or operating on the surface, except that they shall not take advantage of this rule to force an aircraft off the runway surface which has already landed and is attempting to make way for an aircraft on final approach. When two or more aircraft are approaching an airport for the purpose of landing, the aircraft at the lower altitude has the right-of-way, but it shall not take advantage of this rule to cut in front of another which is on final approach to land or to overtake that aircraft.