Commercial Pilot Training - Train To Be A Professional Pilot, Or Just Fly Like One

Are you are contemplating taking a Commercial Pilot Training course to pursue a career as a pilot? Or perhaps you are a Private Pilot, your biennial flight review is coming due and you want to take additional training to enhance your existing piloting skills for personal flying.

No matter which scenario best fits your situation, you will want to be sure to read this entire section dedicated to guiding you in both preparing you for your Commercial Pilot Training - and - selecting the just the right flight training provider.

For the career minded pilot: Never in the history of aviation have we seen a time when things are changing as fast as they are now. Used to be, logging lots and lots of multi engine time was the "holy grail" of a career pilot training path. Not so true anymore!

So what is important? Which flight training academy will provide the most logical and cost efficient path for me to follow?

For the "Personal Pilot" looking to enhance his/her skills - perhaps to meet insurance requirements: General Aviation too is changing more rapidly than anytime in aviation history. There is a boat-load of new aviation related technologies designed to make personal flying easier and safer. It's vitally important that you select a flight training provider who can help you reach your specific goals and address your very specific needs.

Commercial Pilot Training For Career Pilots

Want to be an Airline Pilot? Dream of earning your wings and traveling the world? Read my article on "How to Become an Airline Pilot" for the answers to your many questions on what it takes to fly the big iron!

There was a time not so very long ago when you could call around to the various flight training academies, inquire about the various Commercial Pilot Training programs offered by each one and you would get virtually the same pitch from each one. Sadly, even though there have been major changes in the industry, you probably will still hear that old familiar speech at many of these flight schools: "You need multi engine time, and lots of it if you want to get a job with the airlines."

SIDEBAR: Some flight schools tout "turbine time" and "jet training" as part of their comprehensive career pilot training package. For the most part, this is just a marketing come-on and PAYING large amounts of your hard earned money for "jet training" is both unnecessary and a huge waste of your money!

These days, the demand for pilots among the airlines is reaching critical mass. Most of the regional airlines have reduced their entry level hiring standards and are offering free training to transition newly hired commercial pilots into the airplanes in which they will serve as a crew member, usually in a regional jet like the Embraer ERJ 145 or a turbo-prop transport like the De Havilland Dash 8.

In my experience, I have found that the most cost and time efficient path to the Regional Airlines includes no more than about 75 to 100 hours of multi engine time and most of this can be built up working in a paid position as a multi engine flight instructor - where you will get paid for logging multi engine flight time!

My recommendation: Find a Commercial Pilot Training program or Airline Pilot School which offers required time building in SINGLE ENGINE Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA) - assuming you need more hours to QUALIFY for a Commercial Pilot Certificate - with the opportunity to obtain a multi engine add-on rating, get your Certified Flight Instructor certificate (CFI), your Instrument Instructor (CFII) and Multi Engine Instructor (MEI) ratings added to your flight instructor certificate and then go to work - probably for the flight school where you obtained your ratings - start earning a little spending cash, building more hours and paying it forward - in other words - contribute to the success of other pilot by being a flight instructor and mentor.

SIDEBAR: Anyone who wants to be a professional pilot should take this business of flight instructing seriously. You invested a lot of time, money and hard work into your training and I HOPE you had some good flight instructors during the process. There is very little that frosts me more than flight instructors who do not take their role seriously and who obviously do not care about the success of their students! As the old saying goes: "What goes around comes around." Pay it forward. Help others achieve success and become safe and proficient pilots.

Commercial Pilot Training For The Personal Pilot

The General Aviation landscape is changing. Technologies are advancing at break-neck speed and many of the airplanes available to the personal aviator flies at about that same speed!

Insurance companies have certainly taken notice of this rapid evolution and have come up with a lot of new insurability requirements. Almost all aircraft insurers are requiring pilots to be instrument rated now, or at least offer generous discounts to instrument rated pilots. Some are also requiring pilots to obtain Commercial Pilot Training and Certification and spending multiple hours flying with a "Mentor Pilot" in make and model prior to providing coverage for solo flights and carrying passengers.

This all stands to reason.

A couple of decades ago, forward thinking "experts" envisioned the skies being filled with strange looking small aircraft which as easy to fly as driving an automobile and virtually every commuter owned at least one. I seriously doubt we will ever see anything quite like that. Even with all of the latest technology, airplanes are still very different than cars. And the technology has placed an added burden on the flight training industry. Technology is wonderful - IF ONE KNOWS HOW TO USE IT PROPERLY.

My strong recommendation for personal pilots seeking a Commercial Pilot Training program, is to seek out an organization which is up with the latest technologies, flexible enough to provide training which fits perfectly with your own specific needs, one that uses an FAA approved INTEGRATED pilot training syllabus and, if needed, can make provision for a Mentor Pilot suited for the make and model aircraft you will be flying. If you are buying a new aircraft, ask your sales representative for recommendations. Many light aircraft manufacturers have arrangements already set up with flight training organizations to assist with transitioning to your new aircraft.

Commercial Pilot Requirements

To be eligible for an FAA Commercial Pilot certificate a person must:

• Be at least 18 years of age.
• Be able to read, speak, write and understand the English Language.
• Receive ground instruction on the aeronautical knowledge areas listed in 14 CFR 61.125.
• Pass the FAA aeronautical knowledge test.
• Receive flight training on the areas of operation listed in 14 CFR 61.127.
• Meet the following aeronautical experience requirements (see 14 CFR 61.129 for complete list).

  1. 250 hours of total time as a pilot.
  
  2. 10 hours of instrument training.
  
  3. One solo cross-country flight of at least 300 nautical miles total distance with one leg being at least 250 nautical miles in length and with landings at a minimum of 3 points.
  
  4. 10 takeoffs and landings at a towered airport at night.
  
  

  
  

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