Commercial pilot license requirements
Every requirement, with the paragraph it comes from. Two rules do the work: 61.123 says who may apply, 61.129 says what the logbook has to show. Everything else is commentary on those two.
Commercial pilot license requirements: what is the list?
Eighteen years old, able to read and speak English, already holding a private pilot certificate, 250 logged hours arranged the way 14 CFR 61.129(a) arranges them, a pass in the knowledge test, and a pass in the practical test. Six conditions.
The eligibility conditions live in 14 CFR 61.123 and they are short. Age 18. English read, spoken, written and understood. Ground training received and endorsed for the knowledge test. A pass in that test. Flight training received and endorsed on the areas of operation. The aeronautical experience of the subpart. A pass in the practical test. And, at 61.123(h), at least a private pilot certificate issued under part 61 already held.
The experience conditions live in 14 CFR 61.129, and they are where the money goes. For an airplane single-engine class rating the section wants 250 hours flown as a pilot, then four numbered paragraphs that shape those hours rather than adding to them.
A word about how to read it. The four paragraphs are filters over the same logbook, not separate totals. Somebody who has 250 hours but only 60 of them in command is not eligible; somebody with 250 hours of which 120 are in command and 55 cross-country is. Structure, not volume.
The medical is a separate rule again. 14 CFR 61.23(a) requires at least a second-class certificate to exercise commercial privileges, and second-class privileges expire at the end of the twelfth month after the month of the examination.
What does the logbook have to show?
Four paragraphs under 14 CFR 61.129(a), reproduced here in the order the rule sets them out, with the trap in each one named.
(a)(1) — where the hours were flown
One hundred of the 250 have to be in powered aircraft, and half of that hundred has to be in airplanes. For anyone training the ordinary way this paragraph never binds, because their hours are all airplane hours already. It exists for pilots arriving from gliders, balloons or helicopters.
(a)(2) — who was commanding
One hundred hours acting as pilot in command. Inside those, 50 in airplanes, and 50 flown cross-country of which at least 10 have to be airplane time.
This is the paragraph that decides your calendar. Command time is not lesson time, and cross-country command time is not local flying. A student who books lessons and never plans a trip can be a long way from eligibility at 250 hours total.
- 100 hours acting as pilot in command
- 50 of those in airplanes
- 50 flown cross-country
- At least 10 of the cross-country hours in airplanes
(a)(3) — the twenty hours somebody teaches you
Twenty hours of instruction across the eleven areas of operation at 14 CFR 61.127(b)(1). The rule then names five components, and the second is the one people plan badly.
Ten of those twenty are instrument work behind a view-limiting device: attitude flying, partial panel, unusual attitude recoveries, and intercepting and tracking navigation systems. Five of the ten have to be flown in a single-engine airplane. The other ten hours belong in a complex airplane, a turbine-powered one, or a technically advanced one satisfying 14 CFR 61.129(j).
- 10 instrument hours, five flown in a single
- 10 hours in a complex, turbine or technically advanced airplane
- A 2-hour day cross-country exceeding 100 nm straight line from departure
- A 2-hour night cross-country over the same distance
- 3 hours of test preparation, inside two calendar months of the checkride
(a)(4) — the ten hours where you are in charge
Ten hours flown solo in a single-engine airplane, or ten hours doing the commander’s job with an authorized instructor aboard. Either counts toward the (a)(2) total as well, which is the rule quietly being generous.
Two flights sit inside those ten. One cross-country totalling 300 nautical miles or more, with landings at three points or more, one point standing 250 nautical miles or further in a straight line from the departure airport. And five hours at night under visual rules, with ten departures and ten landings, each landing after a lap of the pattern, at a field with a working control tower.
How do single-engine and multi-engine requirements differ?
14 CFR 61.129(a) covers the airplane single-engine class rating and 61.129(b) covers multi-engine. The totals are identical. What changes is which airplane the specified flights have to be flown in.
Airplane single-engine
The ordinary route, and the one nearly everyone takes first. The long cross-country and the night circuits are flown in a single.
Best forAnyone building toward an instructor rating first.
- Total250 hours
- PIC100 hours
- Specified training20 hours
- Solo or supervised PIC10 hours
Adding multi-engine afterwards
An added class rating on an existing commercial certificate needs training, an endorsement and a practical test. No hour minimum attaches to it at all, per 14 CFR 61.63(c).
Best forAlmost everybody, because it is far cheaper this way round.
- Hour minimumNone
- Knowledge testNot required
- AircraftPiper Seminole
- Price here$5,100
Every requirement, and where it is written
| Requirement | The figure | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum age | 18 | 14 CFR 61.123(a) |
| English language | Read, speak, write, understand | 14 CFR 61.123(b) |
| Certificate already held | Private pilot, part 61 | 14 CFR 61.123(h) |
| Medical certificate | Second class at minimum | 14 CFR 61.23(a) |
| Total flight time | 250 hours | 14 CFR 61.129(a) |
| Powered-aircraft time | 100 hours, 50 in airplanes | 14 CFR 61.129(a)(1) |
| Pilot in command | 100 hours | 14 CFR 61.129(a)(2) |
| Cross-country PIC | 50 hours, 10 in airplanes | 14 CFR 61.129(a)(2)(ii) |
| Specified training | 20 hours | 14 CFR 61.129(a)(3) |
| Instrument training | 10 hours, 5 in a single | 14 CFR 61.129(a)(3)(i) |
| Complex, turbine or TAA | 10 hours | 14 CFR 61.129(a)(3)(ii) |
| Long cross-country | 300 nm, 3 points, 250 nm leg | 14 CFR 61.129(a)(4)(i) |
| Night | 5 hours, 10 takeoffs, 10 landings | 14 CFR 61.129(a)(4)(ii) |
| Test preparation | 3 hours, within 2 calendar months | 14 CFR 61.129(a)(3)(v) |
| Knowledge test | 100 questions, 70 to pass | 14 CFR 61.125 · FAA testing matrix |
| Practical test | Flown to the ACS | 14 CFR 61.127 · 61.43 |
Which requirements catch people out?
After the medical, these are the five that most often send somebody back to the airplane with a bill they did not expect.
Cross-country command time
Fifty hours of it, and it does not appear by accident. Local flying builds total time and command time and nothing else. Every trip you plan feeds three columns instead of one, so plan trips.
The complex or technically advanced ten hours
Not every school has an airplane that qualifies, and renting one elsewhere costs more than it looks. A complex airplane under 14 CFR 61.1 has retracting gear, flaps and a controllable-pitch propeller. A technically advanced one has to satisfy the display and autopilot criteria at 61.129(j).
The 2-hour night cross-country
It has to exceed 100 nautical miles straight line from where it started and it has to last two hours. People fly a shorter night trip, log it happily, and find out later it does not count.
The three hours of test preparation
They have to fall inside the two calendar months immediately before the practical test. Flown too early they do not satisfy 61.129(a)(3)(v), and the checkride waits.
Knowledge test timing
14 CFR 61.39(a)(1) needs a passing knowledge test within the preceding 24 calendar months. Sit it too early and it can expire behind you while you are still building hours.
What does meeting these requirements cost?
The training has a fixed price. The hours have an hourly one. Both are published, and nothing about either is negotiable at the counter.
Instrument Rating
Keeps the 61.133(b)(1) limitation off your certificate and pre-loads the instrument requirement in 61.129(a)(3)(i).
- ✓Built on 14 CFR 61.65
- ✓Fixed at enrolment
- ✓Phase 2 of five
Airline Career Track
Every requirement on this page, plus the instructor rating that follows, at one figure agreed up front.
- ✓Five phases, one price
- ✓Financing from $2,500 down
- ✓Fixed before you start
Multi-Engine Add-On
The added class rating, flown in the Piper Seminole, with no hour minimum attached to it.
- ✓Training and an endorsement
- ✓One practical test
- ✓No written test
Comprehensive Private Pilot
The prerequisite certificate at 61.123(h), priced against 60 logged hours.
- ✓55 hours single-engine
- ✓5 hours Redbird MCX
- ✓Books and materials included
What backs a school’s claim that it can meet these requirements?
Requirements like the complex ten hours and the towered night circuits depend on equipment and on where the school sits. Here is what stands behind each.
Types, including the complex one the rule asks for
Cessna 162 Skycatcher, Piper Warrior, Piper Arrow II, Diamond DA20, Cirrus SR22 Turbo and Piper Seminole. The Arrow II satisfies 61.129(a)(3)(ii) and does not have to be rented in from anywhere.
Inspected under 14 CFR 91.409(b)Instructors who can sign the endorsements
All eleven hold a commercial certificate or an ATP with an instructor certificate above it and a current medical. Endorsements under 61.123(c) and 61.123(e) come from them.
14 CFR 61.183 · 61.23Simulator time you can price in advance
The Redbird MCX is full-motion and enclosed, and a session costs $189. Instrument procedure work goes well in it. Landings do not, and we do not schedule them there.
$189 a sessionDays the field is usable for training
Counted from NOAA ASOS observations recorded at this field for the twelve months ending on 1 August 2026, scoring a day only where four daylight hours held 3,000 ft and five statute miles.
NOAA ASOS via the Iowa Environmental MesonetControl tower, on the field
The ten night takeoffs and landings at 61.129(a)(4)(ii) have to happen at a tower-controlled airport. Van Nuys is one, so no repositioning flight is needed to log them.
Class D, beneath the LAX Class B shelfThe limits of what is on this page
This is a summary of federal regulation written for planning purposes, not a legal document. The controlling text is the current 14 CFR at eCFR, and it moves. Where the rule and this page disagree, the rule is right.
This school teaches at Van Nuys Airport under part 61 of 14 CFR. It is not an airline, it is not owned by one, and has no cadet program, pathway agreement or hiring relationship with any carrier. No interview, job or salary is promised by anyone here.
We publish no pass rate and no graduate count. The school is new and has no record worth quoting, so what gets published instead is the requirement, the rule number and the price.
What people ask about commercial pilot requirements
Age 18, English, a private pilot certificate already held under part 61, at least a second-class medical, 250 logged hours arranged as 14 CFR 61.129(a) specifies, and passes in both the knowledge and practical tests. Eligibility comes from 14 CFR 61.123; experience comes from 61.129.
100 hours, under 14 CFR 61.129(a)(2). Half of that has to be airplane time, and 50 hours have to be cross-country, of which at least 10 must be flown in airplanes. Command time is the requirement students most often reach last.
One flight totalling 300 nautical miles or more, landing at three points or more, one point standing a straight-line 250 nautical miles or further from where it began. Hawaii has a 150 nm variant. It is at 14 CFR 61.129(a)(4)(i).
Yes. 14 CFR 61.129(a)(4)(ii) asks for five hours of night flying under visual rules with ten takeoffs and ten landings, each landing following a circuit of the pattern, at an airport whose control tower is operating. Van Nuys has one.
At 14 CFR 61.1 it is an airplane carrying gear that retracts, flaps, and a propeller of controllable pitch, with a parallel definition covering seaplanes. A turbine-powered airplane or a technically advanced one meeting 61.129(j) can be used instead for the ten hours.
Not quite. 14 CFR 61.129(j) is specific: an electronic primary flight display carrying six named instruments, an electronic multifunction display with a GPS moving map showing the aircraft, a two-axis autopilot tied to navigation and heading guidance, and both displays continuously visible. Plenty of glass panels fall short of that.
No, and yes in practice. 14 CFR 61.129 does not require the rating. But 61.133(b)(1) limits a commercial certificate held without one, prohibiting the carriage of paying passengers at night or on cross-countries past 50 nautical miles, which removes most of the point.
They have to be flown with an authorized instructor inside the two calendar months immediately before the month of the practical test, per 14 CFR 61.129(a)(3)(v). Flown earlier they do not satisfy the paragraph.
The knowledge test has to have been passed inside the 24 calendar months ahead of the month you sit the practical test, which is 14 CFR 61.39(a)(1). Sitting it very early in hour-building risks it lapsing before the checkride.
Some of it. Outside a part 142 course, 14 CFR 61.129(i)(1) credits at most 50 hours obtained in a full flight simulator or a flight training device toward the airplane total; inside such a course 61.129(i)(2) lifts that ceiling to 100. The device and the instruction both have to qualify.
Related reading
Bring your logbook and we will name what is still missing
If you already fly, an assessment flight doubles as a records review: what you have logged, which paragraphs of 61.129 it satisfies, and what is left. If you have not started, it is the first hour of the syllabus. Enroll 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 →