Did you know? Other Private Pilot Certificate ratings & add-ons

All right. So, other Other Airmen Ratings. A lot of this stuff is not going to be something that you’ll be tested on like on your written exam. There might be some of the stuff like on a glider for example, and I’ll bold those things that we might talk about, but this is in FAR 6163. The reason we want to cover this is because a lot of people are interested in Other Airmen Ratings once they get, for example, their private pilot certificate. How do they, you know, fly a float plane? How do they fly multi-engine? How do they fly a tail wheel? Things like that.

So first off, let’s talk about Airmen Class Rating. So we talked about with respect to Certificate of Airmen, you have category and then you have class. And every certificate is for a combination of category and class. So how do you add another class under that same category? So as mentioned in the certificates lesson, a pilot can add an additional class rating under their category by, you don’t have to take an additional knowledge test. You don’t have to have a minimum flight time requirement, but you do have to receive training in the new class with your instructor who then determines you are proficient and provides you with the appropriate endorsements. And then you also have to take and pass a practical check ride. So you have to receive an endorsement and take a check ride. Those are the two requirements to add an additional class. For example, let’s say you get a private pilot certificate with a category and class of airplane single-engine land. You want to fly float planes. So, you find an instructor rated in float planes and you take flight lessons with them. The instructor then determines you are ready for the check ride and endorses you. You take and pass a check ride with a DPE or the float plane class. Your airman certificate will now include airplane single-engine land and sea because you’ve added the Sea class rating. So, private pilot airplane category single-engine land and Sea class. So, that’s how you add an additional class rating to the category of aircraft that you already have a certificate for.

But, there’s some like Endorsement Add-ons that I want to talk about that don’t have as much requirements and just kind of require something like an endorsement. So, this is covered in FAR 61.31. So, unlike adding an additional class rating, some add-ons can be acquired without the need to pass an additional check ride. Some examples are like a tail wheel aircraft. So, if you get certified with your private pass certificate in a nose wheel aircraft, you can then add a tail wheel aircraft without passing an additional check ride. You can do the same thing with a complex airplane. A complex aircraft is an aircraft with a retractable landing gear, controllable pitch propeller, and movable or adjustable flaps. So, all three of those things makes it a complex aircraft. So really the main one here is, you know, the retractable landing gear, getting used to, you know, retracting that down before landing and then bringing it back up. And then the controllable prop high-performance aircraft are aircraft with over 200 horsepower. High altitude flight. So that’s not a specific aircraft, but it’s to be able to fly in high altitude flight. I guess it is type of aircraft. It’s for flight and pressurized aircraft at flights above 25,000 ft. So you have to have get an endorsement for that. And then experimental aircraft are those used to test new aerospace technologies or design concepts. They are for non-commercial recreational purposes only such as education, right? You know, like testing out these new ideas or personal use. All right.

So let’s kind of talk a little bit about what you would have to do to get each of these ratings added on for your certificate. Tail wheel endorsement does not require a minimum number of flight hours. A tail wheel endorsement does not require an additional check ride. The instructor just needs to conduct some training with you, determine you are proficient, and endorse your logbook. The FAA does require that you train in normal and crosswind takeoffs as well as go around procedures specific to tail-wheel aircraft.

All right, so now let’s talk about complex aircraft. Complex aircraft does not require a minimum number of flight hours. It also doesn’t require an additional check rate. The instructor just needs to conduct some training with you, determine you are proficient, and endorse your log book. So far, the same as tail plane. It does require ground and flight training in either complex aircraft or a simulator. So, this one’s a little bit different. They will allow you to do a if you’re simulating, you’re in a simulator with a complex aircraft, they’ll allow you to conduct this training, the ground and flight training using a simulator. So, that is nice.

For high-performance airplanes, again, a high-performance airplane endorsement does not require a minimum number of flight hours. Does not require an additional check ride. The instructor just needs to conduct some training with you, determine you are proficient, and endorse your logbook. So again, pretty similar to tail plane and complex has to be ground-in-flight training in a high-performance aircraft. So you don’t have the luxury of doing a simulator. It has to be in an actual high-performance aircraft. So you get the feel of it, which kind of makes sense. You know, complex aircraft, you’re just kind of working with the controls of the landing gear and the fixed or the controllable prop. High-performance aircraft, that’s going to feel a lot different. You got to get used to actually flying in that aircraft. So that makes sense there.

For high altitude flight, high altitude endorsement does not require a minimum number of flight hours like the others. High altitude endorsement does not require initial check ride like the others. The instructor just needs to conduct some training with you, determine you are proficient, and endorse your logbook like the others. However, specific training areas are required around the high-altitude atmosphere. Flight training must be in a pressurized aircraft above 25,000 ft and include emergency descent procedures, including rapid decompression descents. So very specific training for this one which again kind of makes sense. You have to fly in that actual aircraft and you have to fly actually up in that altitude when you do the training as well.

All right. And then finally experimental aircraft. No person may operate an experimental aircraft for other than the purpose for which the aircraft was issued. These are things you cannot do for carrying persons or property for hire or lease or outside the area assigned by the administrator and until the aircraft proves certain operating characteristics. So you can look more into FAR 61.31 for information about that. Still these are things you cannot do within experimental aircraft. flight over densely populated areas, flight and congested airways. And yeah, so I just want to kind of go back here that most of these have been bolded, which again means this is one of the topics on other ratings that I have, you know, seen people get asked about whether it’s on a solo check ride depending on your solo, you know, stage check or maybe a written exam or something like that. So this would be good to know and remember when operating an experimental aircraft a pilot must advise each person being carried that they are flying in an experimental aircraft operate under VFR day only unless otherwise authorized and notify control tower the aircraft is experimental.

All right, now let’s talk about glider plane towing. This is from FAR 61.69. So here’s an airplane and it’s towing a glider getting it up in the air. So, in order to be able to tow a glider plane, a private pilot must have logged a minimum of 100 hours as PIC in the same category, class, and type of aircraft used for towing. So, if this aircraft here is a  Cesna 172, you have to have a minimum of 100 hours as PIC in that Cesna 172, right? The same category, class, and type of aircraft. It can’t be, you know, within the same category, but a different class and type. It has to be the same category, class, and type of aircraft. Again, for example, like a Cesna 172 must have a log book endorsement from instructor certifying ground and flight training in the gliders. So, from an instructor, they have to do ground and flight training for gliders and give you a logbook endorsement. You also have to have log book endorsement from a pilot that already meets the requirements and who has accompanied the pilot on three flights towing a glider. This could be an instructor or it could be a pilot, but they have to accompany you on the pilot on three flights towing a glider. They have to give you a log bus endorsement proving that. And then in the preceding 12 months performed three actual or simulated toes accompanied by a qualified pilot to be able to tow a glider plane.