An airline pilot in uniform beside a jet

Answered From The Regulation

Do You Need A College Degree To Be A Pilot?

No. 14 CFR 61.153 lists every eligibility requirement for an airline transport pilot certificate and does not mention education. What a degree changes is the hour count: 14 CFR 61.160 lets an aviation bachelor's degree buy an ATP at 1,000 hours instead of 1,500.

No degree in 14 CFR 61.1531,000 hrs with an aviation bachelor's1,500 hrs without oneVan Nuys Airport, KVNY

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Nonecollege degree required anywhere in 14 CFR 61.153

1,000 hrsrestricted ATP with an aviation bachelor's, 14 CFR 61.160(b)

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The Short Answer

Do You Need A College Degree To Be A Pilot?

No. No FAA pilot certificate requires a college degree. 14 CFR 61.153 sets out the complete eligibility list for an airline transport pilot certificate — the highest certificate the FAA issues — and it names age, English language ability, good moral character, the certificates you must already hold, aeronautical experience, a knowledge test and a practical test. Education is absent from that list, and it is absent from 14 CFR 61.103 for the private pilot certificate and 14 CFR 61.123 for the commercial certificate too.

What a degree can change is how many hours you need before you may hold an ATP. Under 14 CFR 61.160 a bachelor's degree with an aviation major, from an institution holding a letter of authorization from the FAA under 14 CFR 61.169, qualifies you for a restricted-privileges ATP at 1,000 hours. Without it, 14 CFR 61.160(f) requires 1,500. That is the whole of the difference, and it is a difference in flight time, not in whether you may fly.

Hiring is a separate question from certification, and it belongs to each airline rather than to the FAA. Airline requirements are set by the employer, they are revised, and LA Flight School does not make placement claims of any kind. What we can tell you is what the regulation says, because the regulation is the part that does not move.

14 CFR 61.153

What Does The FAA Actually Require To Become A Pilot?

Every requirement, from the regulation, with nothing added.

The Regulation That Would Say So, And Does Not

14 CFR 61.153 is the eligibility section for an airline transport pilot certificate. It requires an applicant to be at least 23 years of age, or 21 for a certificate issued under 14 CFR 61.160; to read, speak, write and understand English; to be of good moral character; to hold a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating or an equivalent foreign licence; to meet the aeronautical experience requirements; and to pass a knowledge test and a practical test.

There is no clause about schooling. There is no clause about a degree. Nothing further down Part 61 adds one for any lower certificate either.

What The FAA Does Require, In Order

This is the whole regulatory stack from nothing to an airline transport pilot certificate. Each item is a regulation, not an opinion.

A student pilot certificate at 16 years of age for airplanes, 14 CFR 61.83
A medical certificate before you fly solo, 14 CFR 61.23 — at least third class for private pilot privileges
A private pilot certificate at 17 with 40 hours of flight time, 14 CFR 61.103 and 14 CFR 61.109
An instrument rating, 14 CFR 61.65
A commercial pilot certificate at 250 hours, 14 CFR 61.129
An airline transport pilot certificate at 1,500 hours, 14 CFR 61.159 — or fewer under 14 CFR 61.160

What The FAA Requires You To Be Able To Read

The English language requirement in 14 CFR 61.153(b) is the closest the regulation comes to an educational standard, and it is a language standard rather than an academic one. You must be able to read, speak, write and understand English. Air traffic control at Van Nuys is conducted in English, and so is every chart, checklist and regulation you will use.

14 CFR 61.160

How Does A College Degree Change The Hours You Need?

The restricted-privileges ATP hour credits, taken directly from 14 CFR 61.160. Every figure below is the total time as a pilot required before you may apply.

Route	Regulation	Aviation credit hours	Total time required
Former or current military pilot	14 CFR 61.160(a)	—	750 hours
Bachelor's degree, aviation major, FAA-authorized institution	14 CFR 61.160(b)	60 semester credit hours	1,000 hours
Associate degree, aviation major, FAA-authorized institution	14 CFR 61.160(c)	30 semester credit hours	1,250 hours
Bachelor's degree with part of the aviation coursework	14 CFR 61.160(d)	30 to 59 semester credit hours	1,250 hours
No degree at all	14 CFR 61.160(f)	None required	1,500 hours

Two conditions apply to every degree route. The institution must hold a letter of authorization issued by the FAA under 14 CFR 61.169 — a degree from a college without that authority earns no reduction. And under 14 CFR 61.153(a)(2) a certificate issued under 14 CFR 61.160 may be held from age 21 rather than 23. All of these routes also require 200 hours of cross-country time under 14 CFR 61.160(e).

Hiring Is Not Certification

Do Airlines Require A College Degree?

The honest version, with the line between regulation and employer preference drawn where it actually sits.

The FAA Certificates You. An Airline Hires You.

These are two different gates and they are often confused. The FAA decides whether you may legally act as a pilot in command, and its answer is written in Part 61 with no reference to education. An airline decides whether it wants to employ you, and it sets its own standards, publishes them itself, and changes them when its hiring needs change.

Because those standards move, any page that tells you what a specific airline requires today is a snapshot rather than a rule. Read the airline's own careers page on the day you apply. LA Flight School makes no job guarantee, no placement claim and no statement about anyone's hiring criteria.

The Part That Is Durable

What does not move is the hour count, and the hour count is where a degree has a measurable effect. The gap between 1,000 hours under 14 CFR 61.160(b) and 1,500 hours under 14 CFR 61.160(f) is 500 hours of flying. Most people close that gap by instructing, which is why the certified flight instructor certificate sits where it does in the American pilot pipeline.

Five hundred hours of instructing is roughly a year of full-time work at a busy school. That is the real currency of the degree question: a year, not a qualification.

No Degree Needed

How Do You Become A Pilot Without A Degree?

The same seven steps everyone takes. Each one is a regulation, and none of them is a diploma.

Fly Once Before You Commit

A $229 discovery flight from Van Nuys is a real lesson. You fly the aircraft with an instructor beside you, the hour is logged as dual instruction, and it counts toward the 40 hours in 14 CFR 61.109. The full price is credited against any program if you enroll within 24 hours.

Get A Student Pilot Certificate

14 CFR 61.83 requires you to be at least 16 for airplanes and to read, speak, write and understand English. There is no cost gate and no exam at this stage.

Get An FAA Medical Certificate

14 CFR 61.23 requires at least a third-class medical to exercise private pilot privileges, and you need it before you fly solo rather than before your first lesson. Under 14 CFR 61.23(c) sport pilot privileges can be exercised on a valid US driver's licence instead.

Earn The Private Pilot Certificate

14 CFR 61.103 sets the minimum age at 17. 14 CFR 61.109 sets 40 hours of flight time, including 20 hours of instruction and 10 hours of solo. AOPA puts what students actually need at between 50 and 70 hours.

Add The Instrument Rating

14 CFR 61.65 is where a certificate becomes useful under a Los Angeles marine layer, and it is a prerequisite for an airplane flight instructor rating under 14 CFR 61.183(c). $11,700 at Van Nuys.

Earn The Commercial Certificate At 250 Hours

14 CFR 61.129 sets 250 hours of total time for an airplane single-engine commercial certificate. This is the certificate that lets you be paid to fly.

Build To The ATP Minimum

14 CFR 61.159 sets 1,500 hours for an unrestricted airline transport pilot certificate. 14 CFR 61.160 reduces that to 1,250, 1,000 or 750 for the routes in the table above. Most people build those hours by instructing.

Both Sides

Is An Aviation Degree Worth It?

Four things a degree genuinely buys, and the cost of each. We are a Part 61 flight school, not a university, so read this knowing where it comes from.

500 Fewer Hours

An aviation bachelor's from an FAA-authorized institution takes the ATP minimum from 1,500 hours to 1,000 under 14 CFR 61.160(b). That is the single measurable benefit, and it is real.

Two Years Earlier At The Gate

14 CFR 61.153(a)(2) allows a certificate issued under 14 CFR 61.160 from age 21 instead of 23. If you start young, that matters.

A Fallback That Is Not Flying

Medical certification is not permanent. A degree in anything gives you a second career if 14 CFR 61.53 ever grounds you. It does not have to be an aviation degree to do that job.

Four Years And The Tuition

That is the cost, and it is not small. The alternative route is a private certificate, an instrument rating, a commercial certificate and a CFI, then instructing to 1,500 hours. Both routes end in the same place. One of them pays you during part of it.

Priced, Not Quoted

What Does The Training Actually Cost At Van Nuys?

Published package prices. Each one includes the aircraft, the instructor, ground school and Redbird MCX simulator time.

Sport Pilot License

$8,400

The shortest legal route to acting as pilot in command. 20 hours of flight time under 14 CFR 61.313.

Sport Pilot Program

Standard Private Pilot

$10,900

40 logged hours, the 14 CFR 61.109 minimum. The one to pick if you can fly two or three times a week.

Private Pilot Program

Comprehensive Private Pilot

$15,900

60 logged hours, 5 simulator hours, 10 hours of ground school. Built around what students actually use.

Comprehensive Program

Instrument Rating

$11,700

14 CFR 61.65. The rating that makes a certificate useful under the marine layer.

Instrument Rating

Multi-Engine Rating

$5,100

Add-on rating flown in the Piper Seminole.

Multi-Engine Add-On

Airline Pilot Program

$89,000

Zero time to airline-ready, financing available from $2,500 down.

Career Program

Enrolled students fly at $179 an hour, wet, in a single-engine aircraft. That is the only hourly figure we publish. Financing starts at $2,500 down.

Next Step

Bring The Question To Someone Who Flies For A Living

The free in-person consultation at Van Nuys ends with a written training plan and a real cost for your schedule. If you would rather just fly first, the $229 discovery flight is a real lesson and the hour is loggable. Call (818) 290-8249.

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Discovery Flight For One

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