ATP Requirements

From Pilots Almanac

In order to obtain an ATP Certificate, you must:

• Be at least 23 years of age
• Be able to read, speak, write, and understand the English language
• Be of good moral character
• Meet at least one of the following:
  • Hold at least a commercial pilot certificate and an instrument rating
  • Meet the military experience requirements (listed in FAR 61.73) to qualify for a commercial pilot certificate and an instrument rating
  • Hold either a foreign ATP or a foreign commercial pilot license and an instrument rating, without limitations, issued by a member nation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
• Hold at least a current FAA third-class medical certificate. Later, if your flying requires an ATP certificate, you must hold a first-class medical certificate.
• Pass a pilot knowledge test with a score of 70% or better
• Accumulate flight experience (FAR 61.159).
  • Except as provided in the ATP Qualifing Flight Time section below, you must log at least 1,500 hr. of total time as a pilot that includes at least
    • 500 hr. of cross-country flight time
    • 100 hr. of night flight time
      • A person who has performed at least 20 night takeoffs and landings to a full stop may substitute each additional night takeoff and landing to a full stop for 1 hr. of night flight time, limited to not more than 25 hr. of night flight time.
    • 75 hr. of actual or simulated instrument flight time
      • The maximum time that may be accumulated in a flight simulator or flight training device, representing an airplane, is either
        • 25 hr., if the training is not conducted under FAR Part 142, or
        • 50 hr., if the training is conducted under FAR Part 142.
      • 250 hr. of flight time as PIC of an airplane, or as SIC performing the duties and functions of a PIC under the supervision of a PIC, or by any combination of the two. This requirement must include:
        • 100 hr. of cross-country time
        • 25 hr. of night flight time
• Successfully complete the ATP practical flight test given as a final exam by an FAA inspector or designated pilot examiner and conducted as specified in the FAA's Airline Transport Pilot and Type Rating Practical Test Standards (FAA-S-8081-5B, dated July 1995).

ATP Qualifying Flight Time

A commercial pilot may credit the following flight time toward the 1,500 hr. of total pilot time.

• SIC time, provided the time is acquired in an airplane, under one of the following conditions:
  • Required to have more than one pilot flight crewmember by the airplane's flight manual, a type certificate, or the regulations under which the flight is being conducted
  • Engaged in operations under Part 121 or 135 for which a SIC is required
  • Required under the FARs to have more than one pilot flight crewmember
• Flight-engineer time, provided the time
  • Is acquired in an airplane required to have a flight engineer by the airplane's flight manual or type certificate
  • Is acquired while in operations conducted under Part 121 for which a flight engineer is required
  • Is acquired while the person is participating in a pilot training program under Part 121
  • Does not exceed more than 1 hr. for each 3 hr. of flight-engineer flight time for a total credited time of not more than 500 hr.

You may be issued an ATP certificate with the endorsement "Holder does not meet the pilot in command aeronautical experience requirements of ICAO," if you

• Credit SIC or flight-engineer time toward the 1,500 hr. total flight time requirement
• Do not have at least 1,200 hr. of flight time as a pilot, including no more than 50% of your SIC time and none of your flight-engineer time
• Otherwise meet the aeronautical experience requirements

NOTE: The endorsement described above will be removed when you present satisfactory evidence of the accumulation of 1,200 hr. flight time as a pilot including no more than 50% of your SIC time and none of your flight-engineer time.