What are the requirements for a commercial pilot certificate?

What do I need to become a commercial pilot?

Six things, set out in 14 CFR 61.123:

1. Be 18 or older and able to read, speak, write, and understand English.
2. Hold at least a private pilot certificate.
3. Pass the knowledge test, after an instructor endorses you for it.
4. Log the flight time in 61.129.
5. Receive flight training on the areas of operation in 61.127.
6. Pass the practical test, the checkride, after an instructor endorses you for it.

How many hours do I need?

At least 250 hours of flight time as a pilot (61.129(a)). Within the 250 hours you need:

• 100 hours in powered aircraft, of which 50 hours must be in airplanes.
• 100 hours as pilot in command, including 50 hours in airplanes and 50 hours of cross-country, of which 10 hours must be in airplanes.
• 20 hours of training with an instructor, listed in the next section.
• 10 hours of solo or pilot-in-command time, listed after that.

What do the 20 hours of training include?

• 10 hours of instrument training with a view-limiting device, 5 of them in a single-engine airplane: attitude instrument flying, partial panel, recovery from unusual attitudes, and intercepting and tracking navigation systems.
• 10 hours in a complex airplane, a turbine-powered airplane, or a technically advanced airplane, or any combination of them.
• One 2-hour cross-country flight in daytime, in a single-engine airplane, to a point more than 100 nautical miles in a straight line from the departure point.
• The same flight at night.
• 3 hours with an instructor in preparation for the checkride, within the 2 calendar months before the month of the test.

What is a complex or technically advanced airplane?

A complex airplane "has a retractable landing gear, flaps, and a controllable pitch propeller" (61.1), and the definition also covers some airplanes with a digital engine control.

A technically advanced airplane is defined by its avionics, under 61.129(j): an electronic primary flight display, a multifunction display with a GPS moving map, and a two-axis autopilot integrated with the navigation and heading guidance, with both displays continuously visible. Two airplanes of the same model can differ, so check the equipment of the one you will fly.

What are the long cross-countries?

The 10 hours under 61.129(a)(4) are either solo or flown as pilot in command with an instructor on board, in a single-engine airplane. They must include:

• One cross-country flight of at least 300 nautical miles total, with landings at three points or more, one of them at least 250 nautical miles in a straight line from the departure point.
• 5 hours at night in VFR conditions, with 10 takeoffs and 10 landings, each landing with a flight in the traffic pattern, at an airport with an operating control tower.

What is on the knowledge test?

The knowledge areas of 61.125(b) that apply to airplanes. They include the regulations for commercial privileges, aerodynamics, weather and windshear, weight and balance, performance charts and limitations, navigation, aircraft systems, decision making, night and high-altitude operations, and procedures in the National Airspace System.

The endorsement for the test comes from an instructor who gave the ground training or reviewed your home study (61.123(c)). A passing result must fall within the 24 calendar months before the month you complete the checkride (61.39(a)(1)(i)).

How should I do the ground training?

61.125(a) accepts either logged ground training from an instructor or a home-study course. That leaves three ways to do it.

1. On your own, with a course

   A video course from Sporty's or King Schools covers the knowledge areas at your own pace. You still need an instructor's endorsement before the knowledge test (61.35(a)(1)), from an instructor who reviewed your home study.

2. One on one with me

   Ground instruction is $65/hr, for a session that is not a flight lesson. We go through every knowledge area together, and each session is logged.

3. A mix of both

   The option I recommend. The course carries the reading and the videos, and the sessions with me go to the topics that did not stick and to practice for the oral exam.

What is on the checkride?

An oral exam and a flight with an examiner, covering the eleven areas of operation in 61.127(b)(1): preflight preparation; preflight procedures; airport and seaplane base operations; takeoffs, landings, and go-arounds; performance maneuvers; ground reference maneuvers; navigation; slow flight and stalls; emergency operations; high-altitude operations; and postflight procedures.

To take it you need the flight time above, an instructor's endorsement that you are prepared (61.123(e)), and your knowledge test report.

Where do I start?

With your logbook: total your flight time, pilot-in-command time, and cross-country time against the lists above. I teach every lesson of commercial pilot training myself, at $75/hr of instruction. The airplane, a Cessna 172 or Piper Archer, is paid to Countrywide Flyers at the club rate.