The Commercial Pilot License gives you the privilege of flying for compensation and enables opportunities for a career as a pilot. Typically, pilots achieve their Private Pilot License and Instrument Rating before moving on to train for the Commercial Pilot License.
Course Description
If you want to be paid to fly in any capacity, a commercial pilot certificate is required. Training for the certificate takes a pilot back to the basics of airmanship, and away from the rigors of instrument training.
A pilot must obtain ratings for each category and class of airplane she wishes to be paid to operate. For example, if a pilot aspires to fly skydivers in a Cessna 182 and cargo in a King Air C90, she must have commercial certificate with a single engine and a multiengine rating.
Training in a TAA
In July 2018 the FAA published new rules that created new options for pilots training for the commercial pilot certificate. Previously an applicant had to train 10 hours in a complex airplane, an airplane with a retractable gear, controllable-pitch propeller, and flaps. Responding to feedback from AOPA and the training community, the FAA now allows that training to take place in a technically advanced airplane. A TAA is one that has:
- An electronic primary flight display with all six primary instruments.
- An electronic multifunction display that includes a GPS-based moving map with the aircraft displayed on the screen.
- A two-axis autopilot with heading and navigation modes.
There are different ways to obtain training for your instrument rating, and the reason you want the rating may have an effect on the training method that you choose. Should you enroll in our regimented FAR Part 141 school? This can provide intense training that can have you finished up in days. Part 61 will be at your own pace with a flexible curriculum and schedule. Again, it all depends on the intensity and availability for you to train.
A person who applies for an instrument rating must:
- Hold at least a current private pilot certificate or be concurrently applying for a private pilot certificate with an airplane, helicopter, or powered-lift rating appropriate to the instrument rating sought.
- Be able to read, speak, write, and understand the English language.
You must have logged the following:
- At least 50 hours of cross-country flight time as pilot in command. At least 10 of these hours must be in airplanes for an instrument-airplane rating. This requirement is not applicable under Part 141.
- A total of 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time on the areas of operation listed in 61.65(c). Under Part 141 the total time required is 35 hours.
- At least 15 hours of instrument flight training from an authorized instructor in the aircraft category for the instrument rating sought.
For instrument-airplane rating, instrument training on cross-country flight procedures that includes at least one cross-country flight in an airplane that is performed under instrument flight rules. This flight must consist of:
- A distance of at least 250 nm along airways or ATC-directed routing.
- An instrument approach at each airport.
- Three different kinds of approaches with the use of navigation systems (Example: ILS, VOR, GPS, etc).
- At least 3 hours of instrument training that is appropriate to the instrument rating sought from an authorized instructor in preparation for the checkride within two calendar months before the examination date.