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Airline Transport Pilot Certificate
Everyone has dreams and goals.
If yours is to become an Airline Captain, here is the map to get
you there.
Written by Dave Wheeler
Edited, Janis Chastain-Wheeler
Becoming
an Airline Captain can be a long and challenging journey, but
with a little insight, help from a mentor, and some homework,
the excursion can be made much easier. Let’s start with the
homework. Do lots of research on all the airlines, find out
their minimum requirements for hiring pilots, how their
seniority works, how do the pilots get to fly the routes they
want, etc. Through this research, determine which ones meet your
desires, and then you can make a final determination of which
one is the best match for you.
Once you decide on an airline (or airlines if you still have
several in mind) go to several flight schools and ask them if
they can help in preparing you for this specific airline. A good
flight school will contact your airline, get the specific
requirements and groom your flying instruction to those
requirements. Then you will have an in with that airline and can
bypass a lot of the red tape in the hiring process.
Your Flight School also works with the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA). The FAA is the governing body that
oversees and regulates aviation in all aspects such as
education, safety, airports, etc. The FAA also provides the
flight school with the exams you will take in order to achieve
your Pilot Certificates. By the way, it is not a Pilot License
you achieve as many people erroneously call it. It will say
right on the credit card sized card that you carry in your
wallet, Private Pilot Certificate.
To fly an airplane of any size, you need a Pilot Certificate.
There are three levels of certificates, Private Pilot,
Commercial Pilot, and Airline Transport Pilot.
There are two elements in obtaining all types of pilot
certificates, the education side and the flight training side.
Classroom education prepares you for the FAA knowledge exam.
Airplane flight time prepares you for the FAA checkride exam. At
the culmination of this education and training, you will take
three examinations; a knowledge exam (computer based), an oral
exam, and the flight exam commonly known as the checkride. All
of these exams are given by a member of the FAA or an examiner
designated by the FAA (usually at your flight school).
Once you accomplish your initial Private Pilot Certificate, you
can choose to add skills. There are several additional skills
you can choose to achieve that are “added” to your Private Pilot
Certificate. These skills are separated into two categories,
Ratings and Endorsements. There are two kinds of ratings. The
first kind is called a “Class Rating”. It indicates the number
of engines on the plane (one or more than one) you are skilled
in flying and if you are landing on land or water. For example,
your first rating will likely be a Private Pilot Certificate
with Single Engine Land rating. There is also a Private
Multi-Engine land rating and others. Ratings are issued by the
FAA upon examination of your skill level.
Endorsements are issued by your Certified Flight Instructor by
signing off in your log book that you have proficiency in
handling certain kinds of planes. There is a “High Performance
Endorsement” for a plane with more than 200 horse power, a
“Complex Endorsement” for a plane with a controllable propeller
and retractable landing gear, and a “Tail Wheel Endorsement”,
for a plane such as a Piper Cub that has a single small tail
wheel. To clarify, your log book is where you keep track of all
your flight hours along with all of your ratings and
endorsements.
You must be 17 years old to obtain your first certificate, the
Private Pilot Certificate, but you may start training at a
younger age. The training will take about six months if you can
fly several times a week. You will have on average 55 flight
hours in your log book and will have training in several
maneuvers, such as take off and landing practice, cross country
flight, night flight, and gain some introductory experience
using only flight instruments, called instrument flying.
With your Private Pilot Certificate now in your pocket, you may
take family and friends on outings in the airplane exploring the
local area, going out to exotic airports for romantic dinners or
even using the airplane in your personal business. Lots of
people rent from the flight school but buying your own airplane
is also an option. Again the flight school should be able to
assist you with this decision.
The next step toward your goal of becoming an Airline Captain is
the Instrument Rating. This rating is an additional skill
related to your Private Pilot Certificate. “Remember that
ratings are placed on your certificate by successful completion
of FAA examinations.” The Instrument Rating allows you to fly in
and through the clouds and really opens up your options for
flying in all kinds of weather. Completing the instrument rating
usually takes an additional 45 hours of training, but there is a
regulation that says you must have 50 hours of cross country
flight time that is also required for the instrument rating When
you get out the old abacus you will realize that the real cost
of the instrument rating just doubled. There are three exams for
the “Instrument” rating: knowledge, oral, and checkride exams.
The second certificate on the way to making your dream come true
is the Commercial Pilot Certificate. Minimum age required is 18,
and by now you have achieved your Private Pilot Certificate, the
complex airplane endorsement, and the instrument rating, as well
as around 140 or so total flight time hours. For the Commercial
Pilot Certificate you must have 250 hours total time in the air
to qualify, so most people just “build time” flying on longer
trips with family and friends. Around the 200 hours logged you
should start training for the Commercial Pilot Certificate. The
training for the Commercial Pilot Certificate involves maneuvers
that are more difficult than required for your Private Pilot
Certificate and besides being graded for just safety as in the
Private Pilot Certificate course you are graded on planning the
maneuver, on timing, safety, and since you will now be allowed
to “fly for hire”, smoothness.
What a lot of people do in conjunction with the Commercial Pilot
Certificate is to start preparing for the Flight Instructor
Certificate at the same time. The Flight Instructor Certificate
training does basically the same maneuvers as Commercial
training, but from the right seat as that is where the Flight
Instructor sits while teaching. As soon as you hit the 250
flight hour mark you can take the Commercial Pilot Flight Exams.
Many pilots will do the three Flight Instructor exams and the
three Commercial Pilot Certificate exams at the same time.
Again, they are an FAA written, an oral and a checkride exam.
At the completion of your Commercial Pilot Certificate and your
Flight Instructor Certificate you will have two separate
certificates. You have added enough ratings and endorsements for
your Private Pilot Certificate to be upgraded to Commercial, and
you also have achieved the Flight Instructor Certificate.
Now you will truly start learning to fly, because nothing
teaches us to fly better than teaching the material we’ve
learned to a new pilot applicant. And, you can start earning
back some of the money you have spent on your training at the
same time. Another huge benefit is all the time you spend
teaching new students is time you log towards the next
certificate, the third certificate, the Airline Transport Pilot
Certificate.
The Airline Transport Pilot Certificate is the “union card” that
all major airlines require. As we have seen with previous
certificates, there are minimum flight hours required for this
certificate. 1,500 hours is the required flight time experience,
and you must be 23 years old or more. WOW! How on earth do I get
from the 250 or 300 flight hours I have achieved with a
Commercial Pilot Certificate to 1,500 hours? Lots of ways. As
you teach, that adds to the total time, and as you progress as a
Flight Instructor you will add rating achievements to your
Flight Instructor Certificate just as you did with your Private
and Commercial. You could add an Instrument Instructor Rating,
and a Multi-engine Instructor Rating to your Flight Instructor
Certificate, thus making you a more valuable Flight Instructor
to the flight school, enabling you to teach more, and increase
your earning potential.
As you gain time and experience you may be able to transition
into your employer’s charter department, and start flying
customers on sight seeing trips, or to their destinations
(business & personal). Charter is becoming more viable to
customers because the airport screening process at a commercial
airport takes so long. The customer can actually save time and
money by taking a charter flight, even in a slower airplane, by
not having to stand in lines at the big airports. Instead they
are winging their way to their destination.
You are now in a position to advance to bigger, faster airplanes
and even be hired by your airline’s regional partner. Who? How
come they would want me instead of my airline? Other paths might
be to go to work for a freight company with local routes. You
get the bigger airplane experience (some companies fly turboprop
airplanes or even jets, with lots of cross country and night
time flying, and more hours in the logbook.
By now you have the magic 1,500 hours, you are 23 years old or
more, and are ready to take the Airline Transport Pilot
Certificate checkride. When you pass the checkride and are
issued the Airline Transport Pilot Certificate, have your flight
school that has worked with you during the whole process present
you to the airline again. If the flight school has done their
job, the airline was kept in the loop and knows you will be
coming for the final interview. Once hired you will be sent to
the airline’s flight training department to get familiar with
the airplanes they fly and be readied for another checkride exam
with the FAA in the specific airplane you will be flying. Your
first duty will be as First Officer. You will be sitting in the
right seat (co-pilot) and will assist the pilot. And finally
when you meet the airline’s seniority requirements, you will
graduate into the left seat. The Captain’s seat. Now you can
celebrate, you have arrived at your goal.
Congratulations!
You are an Airline Captain.
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