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Commercial Pilot Requirements

A person applying for a commercial certificate (single-engine class rating) must have logged at least 250 hours of flight time, including:

  • 100 hours in powered aircraft, of which 50 hours must be in airplanes.
  • 100 hours of pilot-in-command flight time, which includes:
  • 50 hours in airplanes
  • 50 hours in cross-country flight (where at least 10 hours is in airplanes)
  • 20 hours of commercial flight training, including:
    • 10 hours of instrument training
      • Includes partial panel, unusual attitudes, intercepting and tracking
      • 5 of these 10 hours must be in airplanes
    • 10 hours of training in a complex, a turbine, or a technically advanced airplane (TAA)
    • One 2-hour cross country flight in the daytime
      • With a total straight-line distance of more than 100nm from departure point
    • One 2-hour cross country flight in the nighttime
      • With a total straight-line distance of more than 100nm from departure point
    • 3 hours with an instructor within the 2 months proceeding the checkride
  • 10 hours of solo flight time (or acting as PIC with an instructor)
    • One cross-country flight of not less than 300nm total distance
      • with landings at a minimum of three points
      • one of which is a straight-line distance of at least 250 nautical miles
    • 5 hours in night VFR conditions
      • with 10 takeoffs and 10 landings at an airport with an operating control tower
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