Pilot how long

The time it takes for each of those is different depending on the pilot career path they choose to take or even the type of flight school. Assuming a student has no previous experience, a student can become a private pilot in as little as months. For those interested in pursuing flying as a career, after obtaining their Private Pilot License they will move onto the next steps of obtaining their instrument rating and then their Commercial Pilot License.

This is a process that may take approximately 3 — 4 months after their PPL is completed, bringing the total time to months, depending on the path that they take. However, be warned of the differences between a Commercial Pilot vs an Airline Pilot — they do not mean the same thing. While airline pilots are a type of commercial pilot, being a commercial pilot means you now have a CPL certificate from the FAA and can be hired and paid to fly.

To become an airline transport pilot, pilots will need their commercial pilot license and instrument rating, along with hours of flight time experience before they are eligible to gain their ATP certificate. The hour requirement can be reduced to 1, or even 1, hours depending on if someone has an appropriate college degree. Starting from 0 experience and moving through PPL, IR, and ultimately that Commercial License can take months, and gaining the hours needed after that can take anywhere from 1 — 3 years depending on the job chosen for building flight experience.

The FAA has established the minimum number of flight hours needed to obtain a certificate. Under Part 61 of the Federal Aviation Regulations, you need a minimum of 40 hours for a private pilot certificate.

Some schools operate under an alternate regulation, Part , which provides more FAA oversight, more rigid schedules, and more paperwork. The added requirements allow them to reduce the minimum hours of private pilot training to 35 hours.

However, many schools believe that a true average flight training time for a private pilot is between 50 hours and 60 hours, whether the school operates under Part 61 or Part schools. Others believe that 68 to 70 hours is the more likely average. Cessna published the national average as 75 flight hours.

Private pilots learn to maneuver a single-engine airplane without assistance from a copilot. This is not a professional certification. While training can technically be accelerated enough to complete within 12 weeks, the additional training it takes for this license is more likely to take six to nine months and must include hours of logged flying hours.

After getting your commercial pilot certificate, you can fly professionally, though you will still not be qualified to fly large aircraft transporting passengers on a major airline. With a CPL you could work teaching skydiving, providing flight instruction, crop dusting, banner towing, operating flying tours or in a number of on-the-ground positions related to flying. It is not uncommon to become a flight instructor while on the longer path toward higher certification, which allows you to earn an income while also earning your required flight hours.

Training time varies though some schools offer programs as short as nine months. This certification is the bare minimum requirement to work as a pilot for an airline. This additional rating takes just a few weeks and is a minimum requirement to work as a pilot in command for any airline. Related: Private vs. Commercial Pilots: Salary, Duties and Differences.

Before pilots can be certified, they need to be able to meet FAA requirements. The FAA is the organization through which the US Department of Transportation monitors all flights in the United States and surrounding international skies, including space.

The FAA requires that eligible pilots:. There are three classes of medical certificates you can obtain to become a pilot depending on the certificate you are pursuing. Each certification documents that you have passable health related to your vision, hearing, equilibrium, mental health and neurological and cardiovascular functioning. This is the highest class available and has the strictest standards, lasting either six or 12 months depending upon your age.

The first-class designation has more rigid requirements, such as passing an electrocardiogram EKG to measure cardiovascular functioning. Any pilot exercising the privileges of a commercial pilot will need this certification annually. Although less intensive than first class, this certificate still has very high standards for vision.