What Are The Commercial Pilot License Requirements In The USA?

A career as a pilot is definitely a goal worth pursuing! If you’ve been asking yourself what the commercial pilot license requirements in the USA are, keep reading to discover more about those qualifications as well as how Paragon Flight can help you meet them.

What Are The Commercial Pilot License Requirements In The USA?

Defining the Commercial Pilot License

What is different about the Commercial Pilot License when compared to a Private Pilot License? The primary difference is that the commercial license serves as evidence that the pilot is prepared and capable of safely providing flight services for compensation. In fact, the law mandates that you have a commercial license before accepting any compensation for your performance as a pilot.

As a commercially licensed pilot, you’ll be able to work in the cockpit for pay, carrying passengers or cargo. Whether you work for an airline or a farm, pilots are able to make a living doing what they love. The field is broad, so you’ll be able to find a position where you can minimize travel or travel all over the world.

An airline pilot will need to earn an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certification and log at least 1,500 flight hours, but they start with a Commercial Pilot License.

The eligibility requirements for a commercial license are fairly standard.

  • AGE – 18 years old
  • LANGUAGE – literate and fluent in spoken and written English
  • LICENSES – Private Pilot License (PPL)
  • LOGBOOK ENDORSEMENTS:
    • Aeronautical knowledge test
    • Practical test
  • PASSED EXAMINATIONS:
    • Commercial pilot knowledge (CAX)
    • Commercial pilot practical test (checkride).
  • Flight Experience Required:
    • Total flight time = 250 hours
    • Pilot-in-Command (PIC) = 100 hours
    • Cross-country PIC = 50 hours
    • Instrument training = 10 hours
    • Technically Advanced Airplane (TAA) = 10 hours
  • Health/Medical Qualifications:
    • 1st or 2nd Class Medical Certificate (1st class required of airline pilots and candidates).

As you consider your plans to become a commercially licensed pilot, Paragon Flight would like to invite you to attend flight school at one of our three locations. You’ll find us at our flagship location at Page Field (FMY) in Fort Myers, FL, as well as a location at Punta Gorda Airport (PGD) in Punta Gorda, FL, and one in LaGrange, GA at LaGrange-Callaway Airport (LGC).

Each of our locations boasts modern facilities, tower-controlled runways, airfields with a diverse range of busyness, and ideal flight conditions over 300 days of the year. Seasonal weather will not stand as an obstacle to flight training when you choose Paragon Flight.

We offer every element needed for training, including TAA aircraft and fantastic flight instructors. Operating under FAR Parts 141 and 61, come to Paragon Flight for one-on-one, flexible training or highly structured programs. As a Part 141 flight school, we’re able to welcome international students with an M-1 Student Visa as well as veterans with GI benefits and students with traditional student loans and grant packages.

The P3 Paragon Flight Professional Pilot Program will promote your achievements. Graduate from zero experience to a commercially licensed flight instructor in fewer than 10 months. During this program, you’ll earn your Private Pilot License (PPL) in the first ten weeks, an Instrument Flight Rating (IFR) in the next eight, a Commercial Single-Engine and a Multi-Engine License (CSEL/CMEL) over the next twelve weeks, and a culminating Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) credential over the last eight weeks.

Interested?

Click here to learn more about the P3 Program and how it or our other programs at Paragon Flight are what you need to meet the commercial pilot requirements in the USA.