ATP certificate requirements
The eligibility list at 14 CFR 61.153, the experience at 61.159, the training program at 61.156, and the two seats at 121.436. Four sections, in the order they actually apply to you.
What are the ATP certificate requirements?
14 CFR 61.153 is the general eligibility section and it is short. Be at least 23 years of age where the certificate is obtained under the experience requirements of 61.159, 61.161 or 61.163, or at least 21 where it comes under 61.160. Read, speak, write and understand English. Be of good moral character. Hold, already, a commercial pilot certificate that carries an instrument rating issued under this part. Then pass the two tests, written and practical.
That last pair is where two other sections attach themselves. 61.153(g) sends you to a knowledge test on the aeronautical knowledge areas at 61.155(c) and 61.153(h) to a practical test on the areas of operation at 61.157(e), both for the category and class you are seeking.
The requirement people underestimate sits in front of the knowledge test rather than inside it. For an airplane multiengine class rating, 14 CFR 61.156 requires an airline transport pilot certification training program first, and it is a substantial course rather than a formality.
So the honest order is: hold the commercial certificate and the instrument rating, accumulate the experience 61.159 specifies, complete the training program 61.156 requires, then take the two tests. Nobody does the tests early.
What experience does 14 CFR 61.159 require?
1,500 hours of total pilot time, broken into five components. The total is the number everybody quotes and the components are the ones that actually determine whether you are eligible on the day you think you are.
The five figures
Paragraph (a) opens with 1,500 hours and then itemises. 500 hours of cross-country time under (a)(1). 100 hours of night flight time under (a)(2). 50 hours inside whichever class of airplane the rating covers under (a)(3). 75 hours of instrument flight time in actual or simulated conditions under (a)(4), with limits on the share a simulator may supply.
Then (a)(5): 250 hours in an airplane flown as pilot in command, or as second in command carrying out pilot-in-command duties under the supervision of a pilot in command, or a combination of the two, and inside that 250 there must be 100 hours of cross-country and 25 hours at night.
- 1,500 hours of total pilot time
- 500 cross-country, per (a)(1)
- 100 night, per (a)(2)
- 50 inside the class the rating covers, per (a)(3)
- 75 instrument, real or simulated, per (a)(4)
- 250 as PIC or supervised SIC, with 100 cross-country and 25 night, per (a)(5)
The component that closes late
Night. An instructor at a busy field accumulates daytime hours faster than almost anybody, and night hours barely at all, because most training flights are scheduled in daylight and most students prefer it that way.
The fix is scheduling rather than money: deliberately taking night lessons, night cross-countries and evening currency flights from early on. It costs the same hours and it removes a constraint that otherwise appears with 1,400 hours logged.
The component that costs the most to fix late
The 50 hours inside the class of airplane the rating covers. A pilot with 1,500 single-engine hours who wants an airline transport pilot certificate with a multiengine class rating has to fly 50 hours in twins, and twin hours are the most expensive hours in general aviation.
This is why multiengine instructing matters disproportionately to anybody planning a multiengine airline transport pilot certificate: it is the one job that generates that specific category of time while paying rather than charging.
What is the ATP CTP, and why does it sit before the written?
14 CFR 61.156 requires an airline transport pilot certification training program before the knowledge test for an airplane multiengine class rating or a multiengine type rating taken concurrently with the certificate. It is 40 hours in total and it needs equipment most flight schools do not have.
The academic half
Thirty hours of classroom instruction covering the subject areas the section sets out, including aerodynamics, meteorology, air carrier operations and crew leadership.
- Hours30 of academic instruction
- Where it sitsBefore the knowledge test
- Governed by14 CFR 61.156(a)
- Available hereNo
The simulator half
Ten hours in a flight simulation training device, of which at least six must be in a device of a specific and demanding class.
- Total device hours10
- Of whichAt least 6 in a Level C or higher full flight simulator
- RepresentingA multiengine turbine airplane, 40,000 lb MTOW or greater
- Remaining hoursIn a Level 4 or higher device
- Available hereNo
Where people actually do it
Typically an airline, as part of new-hire training, or a training centre that owns a simulator of the class the section describes. It is normal to complete it after being hired rather than before.
- Common providerAn airline or a dedicated training centre
- Common timingAfter a conditional job offer
- What we provideNothing toward it
- Why we say soBecause the omission would otherwise be assumed
Does an ATP certificate get you an airline job?
It makes you eligible for one seat and not the other. 14 CFR 121.436(b) requires an airline transport pilot certificate and a matching aircraft type rating before anyone serves as second in command, and it adds that a second-in-command type rating obtained under 61.55 does not satisfy that requirement.
The left seat is governed separately by 121.436(a), and it wants three things at once: an airline transport pilot certificate not subject to the limitations in 14 CFR 61.167, an appropriate aircraft type rating, and 1,000 hours in the roles the paragraph lists. Those roles include second in command under part 121, pilot in command in certain part 91 subpart K and part 135 operations, and combinations of them.
So the sequence after 1,500 hours is longer than it looks. Certificate, then type rating, then the right seat, then a further thousand hours, then command. Anybody presenting the airline transport pilot certificate as the last hurdle has described the first half of the process.
A separate point this school will make plainly. Holding the certificate is a qualification, not an offer. Hiring depends on a labour market nobody here controls, and we publish no forecast of it, no placement claim and no relationship with any carrier, because we have none of those things.
The one genuinely useful thing to plan around is the composition of the hours rather than the total, and the class of airplane in particular. Everything else takes care of itself if you keep flying.
What part of this can a flight school actually provide?
Everything up to the commercial certificate and the instructor rating, which is roughly the first 250 to 300 hours. After that the hours are earned rather than purchased, and the ATP CTP belongs to somebody with a simulator we do not own.
Airline Career Track
Zero hours through private, instrument, commercial and multi-engine to a flight instructor rating. The prerequisite at 61.153(d) is inside it.
- ✓Five phases under one price
- ✓Financing from $2,500 down
- ✓Nothing repriced at a phase boundary
- ✓No ATP CTP, and we do not claim one
Multi-Engine Add-On
The rating that makes the 50 hours at 61.159(a)(3) reachable, and the prerequisite for teaching in twins later.
- ✓No hour floor under 61.63(c)(3)
- ✓Ten to fifteen hours typically
- ✓Fixed at enrolment
Instrument Rating
Required by 61.153(d) before an airline transport pilot certificate, and the start of the 75 instrument hours at 61.159(a)(4).
- ✓40 instrument hours under 61.65(d)
- ✓The 250 nm IFR cross-country
- ✓Fixed at enrolment
Assessment flight
One logged hour, which counts toward the total and toward whichever components it qualifies for.
- ✓Sixty minutes of dual instruction
- ✓You do the flying
- ✓Credited whole if you enrol inside a day
What actually determines how long the experience takes?
Not the syllabus. How often you can fly, whether somebody else is paying, and whether the field cooperates. All three are countable.
Training days a year measured at this field
From NOAA ASOS observations across the year ending 1 August 2026, counting a day only where the ceiling held at 3,000 feet with five statute miles of visibility for four qualifying daylight hours. Across twelve hundred hours of instructing, this is the variable that moves the calendar most.
NOAA ASOS via the Iowa Environmental MesonetHours inside the class the rating covers, per 61.159(a)(3)
The requirement most likely to be discovered late. A twin on the field, and an MEI who can teach in it, are what make those hours reachable without simply buying them.
14 CFR 61.159(a)(3)Hours of flight training an instructor may give in a day
14 CFR 61.195(a) caps it, and a busy instructor is well under it on an average day. It is the most honest number available for estimating how long the climb to 1,500 takes.
14 CFR 61.195(a)Airframe types on the ramp
Cessna 162 Skycatcher, Piper Warrior, Piper Arrow II, Diamond DA20, Cirrus SR22 Turbo and Piper Seminole, owned rather than hired. Availability is what turns a plan into hours.
Owned and maintained in-houseAirline relationships this school holds
None. No cadet program, no pathway agreement, no hiring arrangement, and no carrier named anywhere on this site.
Stated rather than impliedWhat this page cannot do for you
Predict hiring. The airline transport pilot certificate is a qualification and the job market is a separate thing entirely, moved by economics nobody at a flight school controls. We publish no forecast, no placement figure and no relationship with any carrier, because we hold none of them.
Provide the 61.156 training program. That requires a Level C or higher full flight simulator representing a multiengine turbine airplane of 40,000 pounds maximum takeoff weight or greater, which we do not own and do not claim to.
This is a part 61 flight training provider at Van Nuys Airport. It is not an airline, it is not owned by one, and there is no cadet program, pathway agreement or hiring relationship with any carrier. No pass rate and no graduate count are published here, because the operation is new and the sample would be too small to carry meaning.
What people ask about the certificate
Age 23 where the certificate comes under the experience requirements of 61.159, 61.161 or 61.163, or 21 where it comes under 61.160. The ability to read, speak, write and understand English. Good moral character. A commercial pilot certificate carrying an instrument rating issued under this part. Then a knowledge test over the 61.155(c) areas, and a practical test over the 61.157(e) areas of operation.
1,500 hours of total pilot time under 61.159(a), composed of 500 cross-country, 100 night, 50 inside whichever class of airplane the rating covers, 75 instrument in real or simulated conditions, and 250 flown as pilot in command or as supervised second in command, with 100 cross-country and 25 night inside that 250.
Twenty-three for a certificate obtained under 61.159, 61.161 or 61.163, and twenty-one for one obtained under the reduced experience requirements at 61.160. 14 CFR 61.153(a) is the paragraph, and the age difference is one of the more meaningful features of the reduced routes.
Yes. 61.153(d) wants a commercial pilot certificate carrying an instrument rating, issued under part 61. That is the prerequisite behind the 250 hours at 14 CFR 61.129(a) and it is why the airline transport pilot certificate is the fifth certificate or rating most people hold rather than the first.
The airline transport pilot certification training program required by 14 CFR 61.156 before the knowledge test for an airplane multiengine class rating. It is 30 hours of academic instruction plus 10 hours in a flight simulation training device, of which at least 6 must be in a Level C or higher full flight simulator representing a multiengine turbine airplane of 40,000 pounds maximum takeoff weight or greater.
No. We do not run one and we do not hold the simulator 61.156 requires. Most pilots complete it through an airline as part of new-hire training, or through a training centre that owns a simulator of that class, and it is normal for that to happen after a conditional job offer rather than before.
Night hours, followed by cross-country hours. Instructing produces very large quantities of daytime local flying, so a pilot can reach 1,400 total hours with well under the 100 night hours at 61.159(a)(2). It is a scheduling problem rather than a money problem, and it is far cheaper to solve early.
Not on its own. 14 CFR 121.436(a) wants an airline transport pilot certificate free of the 61.167 limitations, an appropriate aircraft type rating, and 1,000 hours in the roles it lists, most often as second in command under part 121. The certificate opens the right seat; a further thousand hours opens the left.
Partly. 14 CFR 61.159(a)(4) requires 75 hours of instrument flight time in actual or simulated conditions and places limits on the share a flight simulator or flight training device may supply. What any particular device may contribute depends on its approval rather than on a general rule, so ask about the device rather than about the category.
Commercial certificate and instrument rating, then a flight instructor certificate, then instructing while deliberately arranging night and cross-country hours from the start. It is not the only route, but it is the only common one where somebody else pays for the airplane, and over roughly twelve hundred hours that difference is decisive.
The hours and ATP cluster
The 1,500 hours start with one, and the composition starts now
Hour one counts toward the total and toward whichever component it qualifies for. Booking a night lesson early is worth more than most people realise, because night hours are the ones that close late. Enrol inside a day and the fee comes off the program.
Fly the aeroplane once, then decide
The assessment flight is the first hour of the syllabus and a two-way evaluation. You fly it from the left seat with an instructor beside you, they write down what they saw, and you get an honest read on whether the plan is realistic. It is loggable, and it is credited in full against enrolment if you enroll within 24 hours.
What happens on an assessment flight →