Pilot licensing and certification

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Pilot licences (in the United States, certificates) are issued by national aviation authorities, and establish that the holder has been trained by a qualified instructor and has met a specific set of knowledge and experience requirements. The licensed pilot can then exercise a specific set of privileges in the nation’s airspace. Despite attempts to harmonize the requirements between nations, the differences in certification practices and standards from place to place serve to limit full international validity of the national qualifications.

In the US, certificates are issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) — certificate is the proper term, although the word license (note the spelling) is commonly used, even by the FAA. In Canada, licences are issued by Transport Canada, and in the United Kingdom by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Anyone can handle the controls of an aircraft on a non-commercial flight, whether they are licensed or not. However, at all times, an aircraft in flight must be under the authority of an appropriately qualified pilot, who is responsible for the safe and legal completion of the flight.

General structure of certification

Pilots are qualified to fly at a specific privilege level, and in one or more specific categories of aircraft. Examples of privilege level found in most countries are:

Student: the pilot who is being trained by an instructor for their first full certificate, and is permitted to fly alone (solo) under specified circumstances.
Private: the pilot who flies for his or her own pleasure and is not allowed to accept compensation for flying except in some specific circumstances.
Commercial: the pilot can fly for hire.
Airline Transport: the pilot can be the captain for a scheduled airline.

Others include

Sport pilot certificate (United States only), used for Light-sport aircraft, a category that was designated in 2004. These aircraft are larger and faster than ultralights, and carry more fuel and often one passenger.

The ultralight category of aircraft in the US requires no specific training and no certification.

The pilot can separately add certain ratings, such as the instrument rating.

Pilot licensing and certification

General structure of certification

See also