Pilot certification in the United States

In the United States, pilots must be certified to fly most aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), regulates certification to ensure safety and standardization. Pilots can earn certification under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) Part 61 or, if attending an approved school, under 14 CFR Part 141. Those operating commercial drones must obtain certification under 14 CFR Part 107.

An FAA-issued pilot certificate grants official authorization to operate an aircraft. However, it is just one of several kinds of airman certificates issued by the FAA to aviation professionals. The FAA also certifies flight engineers, flight instructors, ground instructors, flight dispatchers, aircraft maintenance technicians, parachute riggers, air traffic controllers, flight navigators, and flight attendants.

A pilot is certificated to fly aircraft at one or more named privilege levels and, at each privilege level, rated to fly aircraft of specific categories. Privilege levels of pilot certificates are, in order of increasing privilege:

Pilots can be rated in these aircraft categories:

Most aircraft categories are further broken down into classes. If a category is so divided, a pilot must hold a class rating to operate an aircraft in that class:

A student pilot certificate does not list category or class ratings but is instead endorsed by a flight instructor to confer privileges in specific makes and models of aircraft.

A type rating is required in a specific make and model of aircraft if the aircraft weighs more than 12,500 lb (5,700 kg) at takeoff, is powered by one or more turbojet engines, or is otherwise designated as requiring a type rating. The Boeing 747, Beechcraft Super King Air 350, and the Hawker Hunter are examples of aircraft that require type ratings.

To legally operate under instrument flight rules (IFR), a pilot can separately add an instrument rating to a private or commercial certificate. An airline transport pilot implicitly holds an instrument rating, so the instrument rating does not appear on an ATP certificate. The FAA issues instrument ratings separately for airplane and powered lift categories and the helicopter class (INSTA and INSTH). Glider and airship pilots may also operate under Instrument Flight Rules under certain circumstances. An individual may hold only one pilot certificate at one time; that certificate may authorize multiple privilege levels distinguished by aircraft category, class or type. For example, an Airline Transport Pilot certificate holder may be permitted to exercise ATP privileges when flying multi-engine land airplanes, but only Commercial Pilot privileges when flying single-engine land airplanes and gliders. Similarly a Commercial Pilot holder with a glider rating may have only Private Pilot privileges for single-engine land airplanes.