What Are the Different Types of Pilot Licenses?

Organizations like the FAA sometimes use “license” and “certificate” interchangeably on their website, but the official term for a piece of paper that gives you the legal right to fly an aircraft is, indeed, called a certificate. 

This article will help clear up the confusion between licenses, certificates, and ratings, and take a look at the requirements to receive each of the 7 types of pilot licenses. 

A pilot license is a certificate that offers legal proof that you are qualified to fly a given aircraft in given conditions. As with driver’s licenses, there are restrictions with each type of certificate. For instance, regularly licensed driver’s can’t drive 18-wheelers for money. 

Hopefully, that clears up the difference between certificates and ratings or endorsements! Here is a look at the 7 major types of pilot certificates.

Similar to a learner’s permit for drivers, a student pilot certificate is granted after a written exam and allows future pilots to act as pilot in command of a basic light airplane or other categories of aircraft.

Cost:  There is no charge for the application to the FAA, but you will need to satisfy the medical requirement, which can either be via your driver’s license (if pursuing a sport pilot certificate) or a third-class medical certificate (for a private or recreational pilot certificate).

Time: 

Minimum Age: 

Medical Examination Requirements: 

Minimum Logged Hours: N/A

Limitations: 

Additional Certificates Required: N/A

Sport pilot certificates are for pilots who only plan on flying light sport aircraft (either factory built or homebuilt). These are easier to get than a private pilot certificate, and cheaper, as they take less time, but there are no ratings to add. If you want to fly bigger aircraft, you have to continue to a private pilot certification. 

Cost: 

Time: Less than a month

Minimum Age: 16

Medical Examination Requirements: No, if you hold a driver’s license or comply with BasicMed

Minimum Logged Hours: 20 hours 

Limitations: 

Additional Certificates Required: N/A

Recreational pilot certificates are very, very similar to sport pilot certificates, except they allow for the operation of slightly larger and heavier aircraft, certified under Part 23 as opposed to just LSAs. The major differences are in the hours you need to log to apply for the certificate, and the required medical exam.

Cost: 

Time: 1-2 months

Minimum Age: 16

Medical Examination Requirements: 

Minimum Logged Hours: 30 hours

Limitations:  

Additional Certificates Required: N/A

The most common license in the United States is a private pilot certificate. This allows pilots to carry multiple passengers all while getting to fly a wide array of aircraft including high-performance models with proper endorsements and ratings. Plus, you’ll get to fly in and out of controlled airports beyond your home base.

Cost: 

Time: 

Minimum Age: 16 

Medical Examination Requirements: 

Minimum Logged Hours: 35

Limitations: 

Additional Certificates Required: N/A

When most people hear of a commercial pilot they think of someone who flies for a popular airline. Those are commercial pilots, but in order to fly those jets, you’ll need to also get what’s called an ATP. 

Anyone who wants to accept pay for their piloting skills must seek a commercial pilot certificate. This includes things like dropping water on forest fires, working for Border Patrol, and many other solo operations that are still for pay, thus requiring a commercial certificate.

Cost: 

Time: 

Minimum Age: 18 

Medical Examination Requirements: 

Minimum Logged Hours: 250 hours

Limitations: 

Additional Certificates Required: 

A CFI is someone who is FAA-qualified to teach others how to fly. Just as with private and commercial, a flight instructor must also seek out ratings such as IFR in order to be qualified to teach individuals, and ultimately sign off, on those ratings. 

Cost: 

Time: 

Minimum Age: 18 

Medical Examination Requirements: 

Minimum Log Hours: 250

Limitations: 

Additional Certificates Required: 

At the top of the proverbial aviation food chain is the ATP. These are the pilots who fly hundreds of passengers on multiple-hour flights around the world. If you have an ATP, you can pretty much do anything except fly military hardware, with the right type ratings, recency of experience, and endorsements.

Cost: 

Time: 

Minimum Age: 23 

Medical Examination Requirements: 

Minimum Logged Hours: 1,500

Limitations: 

Additional Certificates Required: 

These two terms may be used almost interchangeably in the aviation world, so no is a fair answer, but in recent history, the FAA has been making a more concerted effort to refer to any space travel paperwork as a certificate. Around the world, other authorities use the term “license,” such as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), so if you search online you may find EASA references to licenses. You will also see the “PPL” reference under EASA regulations and documentation.

So, if you’ve said “pilot’s certificate” your whole life, there’s no need to change now… But if you’re just starting, it seems to be the term that will be more popular as civilian space travel continues to grow in popularity. 

Even though you don’t have to take an exam to be an organ donor or get a veteran stamp on your driver’s license, it’s safe to use them as comparators for ratings and endorsements in aviation. 

If someone has their baseline private pilot certificate, they still have restrictions and can’t just jump behind the yoke of a Boeing 787 and start doing acrobatics. This is probably good news for anyone other than the pilot, right? 

In order to operate as pilot-in-command (PIC) of a high-performance aircraft, a pilot has to have what’s known as an endorsement. The endorsement covers all high-performance airplanes, with horsepower of 201 hp or higher. As of August 1997, pilots are also required to have a separate endorsement for the operation of complex aircraft, which have retractable landing gear, flaps, and a controllable-pitch propeller (for seaplanes, just the flaps, and controllable-pitch prop), in order to operate those aircraft as PIC.

Ratings are similar, but are a bit broader as they cover an entire category and/or class of aircraft. Two common examples of ratings are a rotorcraft rating (to fly helicopters, for example) and an instrument rating. If a pilot—with any level of certificate originally issued with an airplane or other category rating—wants to fly a helicopter, they need to first get their rotorcraft rating.

There’s also an instrument rating (often referred to as an IFR rating, which stands for “instrument flight rules”), which proves competence in control of the aircraft and its navigation solely by reference to the instruments or displays on the flight deck. This means the pilot can fly without visual cues, generally flight into reduced visibility or into the clouds. If that same pilot wanted to fly a helicopter under IFR, they would also have to get a rating for that type of aircraft. Always check to see if a given type of aircraft you wish to pilot requires an additional endorsement or rating.

Cost and goals tend to be the two biggest factors when deciding which pilot license to pursue. Sport and recreation licenses can be achieved relatively inexpensively, but it’d only allow you to carry one passenger, and you can’t accept money. 

If you want to get paid to fly, you at least have to go for your commercial, which will allow you to fly smaller aircraft for hire, or do things like patrol the skies for police or other agencies. To be an airline pilot, you are going to make an enormous time and monetary investment, but if you love flight, it’s certainly worth it, as ATP pilots rarely make less than six figures in a year!

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