14 CFR Part 61
Certification: pilots, flight instructors, and ground instructors
Pilot certificates, medicals, currency, endorsements and instructor rules. The 13 sections below are the ones owners, schools and pilots look up most, each explained in plain English beside the official text.
- 61.3Certificates a pilot must hold and carryTo act as a required pilot you must have your pilot certificate, a government photo ID and, unless an exception applies, your medical certificate in your possession or readily accessible in the aircraft. You must show them to the FAA, NTSB, TSA or a law enforcement officer who asks.
- 61.23How long a medical certificate lastsA private, recreational or student pilot needs at least a third-class medical, or BasicMed. For those privileges any class of medical lasts 60 calendar months if you were under 40 at the exam, and 24 calendar months if you were 40 or older. Commercial privileges need a second-class medical, good for 12 months.
- 61.31Complex, high-performance and tailwheel endorsementsSome aircraft need more than a pilot certificate. Large and jet aircraft need a type rating, and complex, high-performance (over 200 horsepower), high-altitude pressurized and tailwheel airplanes each need training and a one-time logbook endorsement from an instructor.
- 61.51Pilot logbooksYou must log the training and experience you use for a certificate, rating, flight review or currency. Each entry needs the date, time, where you departed and arrived, the aircraft, the kind of time (solo, PIC, dual) and the conditions (day, night, instrument).
- 61.56The flight reviewTo act as pilot in command you need a flight review within the past 24 calendar months: at least 1 hour of ground training and 1 hour of flight training with an instructor, ending in a logbook endorsement. Passing a checkride or completing a phase of the FAA WINGS program counts instead.
- 61.57Currency: recent flight experienceTo carry passengers you need 3 takeoffs and 3 landings in the preceding 90 days in the same category, class and type, to a full stop if it is a tailwheel airplane. At night you need 3 to a full stop at night. To fly IFR you need 6 approaches, holding and course tracking within the preceding 6 calendar months.
- 61.87Student pilot solo requirementsBefore a first solo, a student must pass a pre-solo knowledge test given by their instructor, receive and log training in the listed maneuvers, and get a logbook endorsement for the specific make and model. That endorsement is good for 90 days and must be renewed by an instructor every 90 days.
- 61.93Student solo cross-country flightsA student needs cross-country training and endorsements before any solo flight more than 25 nautical miles from the home airport or landing anywhere else. Each solo cross-country also needs the instructor to review the student's planning and endorse the logbook for that flight.
- 61.109Private pilot flight experienceA private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine rating needs at least 40 hours of flight time, including 20 hours of training with an instructor and 10 hours of solo. The 20 hours must include cross-country, night, instrument and checkride preparation training.
- 61.113Private pilot privileges and sharing costsA private pilot may not fly for compensation or hire, but may share a flight's fuel, oil, airport expenses and rental fees with passengers, paying at least their own pro rata share. A few narrow exceptions apply, and the section also sets the limits for flying under BasicMed.
- 61.189Records a flight instructor must keepA flight instructor signs the logbook of everyone they train and keeps their own record of every solo endorsement and every knowledge or practical test endorsement they give, including the test results, for at least 3 years.
- 61.195Flight instructor limitationsA flight instructor may give no more than 8 hours of flight training in any 24 consecutive hours, and may only teach in aircraft for which they hold the matching pilot and instructor ratings. The section also limits which endorsements an instructor may sign and bans self-endorsement.
- 61.197Renewing a flight instructor certificateFlight instructor certificates no longer expire. Instead, an instructor may teach only if they have met a recent experience requirement within the preceding 24 calendar months, such as a practical test, an 80 percent first-time pass rate with 5 applicants, or a refresher course.
The rest of Part 61 is on the eCFR.