Pilot certificates & ratings
Every certificate, rating, endorsement and medical explained — from student pilot to ATP, the instrument, multi-engine and type ratings, the instructor certificates, medicals and BasicMed, and how licenses convert between countries.
The highest pilot certificate, required to captain an airliner — the 1,500-hour rule and restricted ATP.
The certificate that lets you be paid to fly — requirements, privileges and the instrument-rating limitation.
How licenses move between FAA, EASA and other ICAO states — validation vs conversion, and what it takes.
The certificates that let you teach — and the most common way pilots build hours toward the airlines.
The rating that lets you fly in cloud and the IFR system — what it adds and what it requires.
The three classes of FAA medical, what each covers, and how BasicMed lets many pilots fly without one.
Adding a class rating to fly aircraft with more than one engine — and the single-engine emergency focus.
The cornerstone certificate — fly almost anywhere for personal travel, carry passengers, share costs.
A middle tier between sport and private — more aircraft than sport, fewer privileges than private.
The lowest-cost U.S. pilot certificate — fly light-sport aircraft with a driver's license as your medical.
The entry-level certificate that lets you fly solo under instructor supervision — privileges, limits and how to get one.
What a type rating is, which aircraft require one, and how pilots get type-rated.