Pilot Qualifications

• At least 17 years old
• Read, speak, write, and understand English
• Hold at least a current third-class medical
• Receive the required ground and flight training endorsements
• Meet the aeronautical experience requirements
• Pass the knowledge and practical tests (61.103)

40 hours of total flight time, including at least 20 hours of flight training from an authorized instructor and 10 hours of solo flight time. Each block carries its own cross-country, night, and instrument sub-requirements (61.109(a)).

• 3 hr cross-country training
• 3 hr night training, including one night cross-country over 100 NM total distance and 10 night takeoffs and landings to a full stop
• 3 hr instrument training — control and maneuvering solely by reference to instruments
• 3 hr checkride prep within the preceding 2 calendar months (61.109(a))

• 5 hr solo cross-country
• One solo cross-country of 150 NM total distance, with full-stop landings at three points and one segment of more than 50 NM straight-line distance
• 3 takeoffs and 3 landings to a full stop at an airport with an operating control tower (61.109(a))

Three things (61.3, 61.23):

• Pilot certificate
• Government-issued photo ID
• Current medical certificate or BasicMed qualification

May: act as PIC and carry passengers; fly in IMC if instrument rated.

May not: fly for compensation or hire — beyond limited cost-sharing where you pay no less than your pro-rata share of the operating expenses (fuel, oil, airport expenditures, rental).

Exceptions: act as PIC incidental to a business if you carry no passengers or property for hire; conduct search-and-rescue; fly for charitable, non-profit, or community events meeting 91.146; act as an aircraft salesman with 200+ hours (61.113).

• Category — Airplane, Rotorcraft, Glider, Lighter-Than-Air
• Class — Single-Engine Land/Sea, Multi-Engine Land/Sea
• Type — a specific make and model, required for aircraft over 12,500 lb, turbojets, or any aircraft the FAA specifies (61.5, 61.31)

Currency is meeting the regulatory recent-experience minimums — a legal threshold. Proficiency is actual competence and skill, which usually exceeds the regulatory minimum. You can be current but not proficient.

Log the training and aeronautical experience required for a certificate, rating, or recent-experience requirement. Recurrent currency need not be logged continuously but must be shown when you exercise that privilege (61.51). As a certificated private pilot you don't routinely carry the logbook.

No — the certificate has no expiration date, but you must complete a flight review every 24 calendar months to act as PIC (61.56).

Day: three takeoffs and three landings in the preceding 90 days in the same category, class (and type if required).

Night: the three must be to a full stop, between 1 hour after sunset and 1 hour before sunrise (61.57).

Night itself is the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight (1.1).

Third class: 60 calendar months if under 40 at the exam, 24 calendar months if 40 or older. First- and second-class medicals downgrade in steps to third-class privileges.

An alternative to a medical certificate.

Requirements: held a medical after July 14, 2006; valid driver's license; online medical course every 24 months; physician exam (CMEC) every 48 months.

Limits: aircraft authorized for 7 occupants or fewer (you plus up to 6 passengers) with a max certificated takeoff weight of 12,500 lb or less; at or below 18,000 ft MSL; 250 kt or less (61.113(i), Part 68 — the occupant and weight limits were expanded from 6/6,000 lb in November 2024).

Notify the FAA in writing within 30 days; you cannot exercise your privileges after 30 days until you do (61.60).

As a student I faced several limits (61.89):

• No carrying passengers
• No carrying property for compensation or hire
• No flying in furtherance of a business
• Solo weather floors: at least 3 SM flight or surface visibility by day, 5 SM at night, always maintaining visual reference to the surface — solo student flying is strictly VFR

Only when acting as PIC — that is, on solo flights. Then I needed my student pilot certificate, medical, and government photo ID, plus my logbook to show the required endorsements. As a certificated private pilot the logbook stays home except when I need to show recent-experience or endorsements (61.3, 61.51).

Not anymore — student certificates issued after 2016 have no expiration date. (Older ones expired after 60 calendar months if issued under age 40, 24 if over.) A student stays "current" simply by holding a valid medical. PPL, commercial, CFI, ground instructor, and ATP certificates are likewise issued without an expiration date — you just have to keep them active with currency (61.19).

Every 24 calendar months: a minimum of 1 hour of ground training and 1 hour of flight training with an authorized instructor, covering the Part 91 rules and the maneuvers the instructor deems necessary. A practical test for a new certificate or rating resets the clock.

Four airplane types each need a one-time instructor endorsement — no checkride, no new certificate:

• Complex
• High-performance
• High-altitude (pressurized above certain altitudes)
• Tailwheel