Types Of Pilot Licenses: What Each FAA Certificate Actually Lets You Do

The permission slip that lets you fly an aircraft alone while training. It is not a license to do anything with anyone else on board — a student pilot may never carry a passenger. Issued free through IACRA and, since 2016, it does not expire.

• Minimum age 16 for airplanes, 14 for gliders and balloons (FAR 61.83)
• Requires at least a third-class medical certificate before solo
• Every solo flight requires a current instructor endorsement
• No passengers, no compensation, no flight in furtherance of a business

The lowest-paperwork way to become a pilot in command. A valid US driver's license stands in for an FAA medical certificate, which is why it exists and why it matters to people whose medical situation is complicated. The FAA's 2025 MOSAIC rulemaking significantly expanded the set of aircraft a sport pilot may fly.

• 20 hours minimum flight training (FAR 61.313)
• Minimum age 17 for the certificate, 16 to solo
• US driver's license accepted in place of an FAA medical
• One passenger maximum, no compensation; night only with the FAR 61.329 training, endorsement and a part 67 medical or BasicMed
• Generally limited to 10,000 ft MSL or 2,000 ft AGL, whichever is higher
• Class B, C and D airspace requires the FAR 61.325 endorsement
• Program price at LA Flight School: $8,400

A middle tier the FAA created in 1989 that history has largely bypassed. It needs a third-class medical, which removes the main reason anyone would choose it over sport pilot, while carrying restrictions a private certificate does not have. Very few are issued.

• 30 hours minimum flight training (FAR 61.99)
• Third-class medical certificate required
• Within 50 nautical miles of the departure airport unless endorsed
• One passenger, day VFR, aircraft of 180 horsepower or less with four seats or fewer

The certificate most people mean when they say pilot's license, and by a wide margin the most commonly held. Carry passengers, fly at night, fly across the country, add an instrument rating and fly in cloud. You cannot be paid, but under FAR 61.113(c) you may share the pro rata cost of fuel, oil, airport expenses and rental with your passengers.

• 40 hours minimum, including 20 dual and 10 solo (FAR 61.109)
• Minimum age 17, 16 to solo (FAR 61.103)
• Third-class medical or, later in a flying life, BasicMed
• National average to completion: 50 to 70 hours (AOPA)
• Program price at LA Flight School: $10,900

The certificate that allows you to be compensated for flying. Flight instruction, aerial survey, banner towing, pipeline patrol, skydive operations, charter and sightseeing all sit here. Without an instrument rating it carries a limitation under FAR 61.133(b)(1) that makes it close to unusable commercially, so the two are done together in practice.

• 250 hours total flight time under FAR 61.129(a); the 190-hour route in FAR 61.129(i)(3) applies to a graduate of an approved commercial pilot course under Part 142
• Minimum age 18 (FAR 61.123)
• Second-class medical certificate required to exercise the privileges
• Must already hold at least a private pilot certificate
• Zero-to-airline program at LA Flight School: $89,000

The highest certificate the FAA issues, and the one required to captain an aircraft in scheduled airline service. Since 2013 it has also been required for first officers at Part 121 airlines, which is what people mean by the 1,500-hour rule.

• 1,500 hours total time (FAR 61.159), including 500 cross-country, 100 night and 75 instrument
• Minimum age 23, or 21 for a restricted ATP
• First-class medical certificate to exercise the privileges
• Restricted ATP available at 1,000 to 1,250 hours with a qualifying aviation degree (FAR 61.160)
• ATP-CTP course required before the knowledge test

A separate certificate rather than a rung on the same ladder, issued under Subpart H of Part 61. It is how most civilian pilots build the hours between a commercial certificate and an airline job, and it is the fastest way to genuinely understand the material you were taught.

• Requires a commercial or airline transport certificate, plus an instrument rating for an airplane CFI
• Minimum age 18
• Two knowledge tests: Fundamentals of Instruction and the CFI subject test
• Add-on ratings available: CFII for instrument, MEI for multi-engine