Licenses, Ratings, Endorsements, Category, Class, Type

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Without getting into specifics, there are 5 basic licenses a pilot can obtain:

• Sport Pilot license – Limited in activity

• Recreational Pilot license – Limited in activity

• Private Pilot license - Cannot fly for hire

• Commercial Pilot license - Can fly for hire excluding airlines

• Airline Transport Pilot license - Can fly for airlines and all other activities

1. The term “certificate” is used interchangeably with license.

2. The Flight Instructor Certificate is actually a Rating and expires every 24 months.

3. Pilot licenses do not expire.

4. The medical certificate that must accompany them does expire.

5. Ratings are attached to a pilot license.

6. Endorsements are made by a Flight Instructor in a pilot’s logbook. These can include additional training and a privilege to showing currency and required recurrent training.

A “Rating” indicates the condition and equipment the pilot is qualified to fly and is attached to the license held at the time of the check ride for the rating sought. A Rating can be for Instrument qualifications in a specific class of aircraft, i.e. airplane, rotorcraft, etc., or can be for a type of class of aircraft within a category, such as Airplane Single Engine Lane, Airplane Single Engine Sea. So, a successful instrument rating check ride for a pilot who is already a Private Pilot, would allow him or her to fly day or night in VFR and IFR conditions. (IFR means Instrument Flight Rules). Another type of rating for this pilot is the type of airplane used to take their PPL check ride. For most civilian pilots it’s an Airplane Single Engine Land or

ASEL. In this example, after their initial check ride, his or her pilot license would say Private Pilot. On this license under the heading “Ratings and Limitations” it would say Airplane Single Engine Land. After passing their instrument check ride, “Instrument Airplane” would be added. In this example, notice that the Instrument Rating is specific to an aircraft category, in this case, airplanes. Once this pilot receives his Airplane Multi Engine Land (or Sea) rating, they are instrument qualified in that type of airplane too. If

this pilot were to get a helicopter (rotorcraft) rating however, they would be limited to VFR until passing an Instrument check flight in a helicopter. 

A few more notes......

1. The instrument rating passes on to the Commercial license. (The FAA says you’re OK to fly an airplane in instrument conditions regardless of license held). Airplane ratings, however, do not pass on. This is why most pilots obtain their Commercial Pilot licenses before seeking the Multi Engine rating. If you had a PPL with both airplane single engine and multi engine land ratings, and you were to take your Commercial flight test successfully in a single engine airplane, your commercial license under Ratings and Limitations would say Airplane Single Engine Land and Private Pilot privileges Airplane Multi Engine Land. You would have to take a successful Commercial Pilot Check Ride in a multi engine airplane to remove this restriction. Why take the check ride twice?

2. All licenses and ratings require a Flight Instructors endorsement that you have received the required training, and you have a successful check ride with an FAA Inspector or Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE).