First Solo Cross-Country on an Expiring Medical
You are a Category B flight instructor at a Part 141 training organisation in Hamilton. A 22-year-old student has completed all pre-solo exercises and the pre-solo written test. Tomorrow he is booked for his first solo cross-country to Tauranga and back in a Cessna 152. His student pilot licence is current, but his Class 2 medical certificate expires at 23:59 tomorrow. He has not flown for 38 days because of university exams. The aircraft is serviceable and the forecast is marginal VFR with a trough expected in the afternoon. The chief instructor is away and has left you to sign the authorisation. The student is keen and has already filed a flight plan. Your instructor rating is current, but you have not flown with this student since his last dual check. The organisation's exposition requires an instructor to authorise each solo flight and to record the authorisation in the student's logbook.
1. May you lawfully authorise the solo cross-country? Identify the licensing, medical, recency and supervisory factors and state your decision.
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A student pilot may fly solo only under an instructor's authority and within the conditions of the student pilot licence. That authority is a supervisory responsibility, not a signature to clear a backlog. The Class 2 medical must be valid for the whole flight. Expiring at 23:59 tomorrow is not automatically fatal if the flight is completed and back before then, but a diversion or delay could leave the student flying without a valid medical. The 38-day gap is not a statutory bar, but it is a recent-experience risk: you have not flown with him since his last dual check, so you cannot personally vouch for his current handling. Marginal VFR with an afternoon trough is a poor first solo cross-country forecast, and the student has no alternate or weather-decision experience. My decision would be not to authorise tomorrow as planned. I would fly a dual revision/check first, set firm weather minima, and only authorise when the medical is renewed or the flight can be completed with a comfortable margin.
2. What endorsements and records must be completed, and what should you brief the student about the medical expiry and weather?
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The student's logbook must show the solo authorisation, date, aircraft type and registration, route and conditions, and your name and signature. The Part 141 organisation must retain the training records required by its exposition. Before flight, confirm the student pilot licence, current medical and aircraft documents. Brief the medical expiry and the need to return before it lapses; personal weather minima; diversion and alternate options; lost procedures; radio and mandatory broadcast zone requirements; no cloud scud-running; flight-plan and reporting requirements; and the instruction to land or divert rather than press on. After flight, debrief and record the flight and any training credit. If the medical is renewed, record the new expiry. The authorisation should be specific to that flight, not open-ended.
3. If you decline, what alternatives and supervisory actions are appropriate?
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Substitute a dual navigation exercise with an instructor, or a shorter local solo after a dual check in better weather. Refer the decision to the chief instructor so the standard is consistent. Set a clear remediation plan: dual revision of cross-country planning, diversion and weather decision-making; a check flight; then re-authorise once the medical is renewed and the weather meets agreed minima. Document the decision and the advice, because a later incident would be examined against the instructor's supervisory duty. Do not sign an authorisation merely to avoid disappointing the student or because a flight plan has been filed. A filed flight plan is not an authorisation and does not make the flight lawful or safe.