Becoming a Commercial Pilot is a huge step in your aviation career! Not only can you be paid to fly, but you can also build flight experience towards earning an ATP Certificate, the final step needed to secure a job with an airline.
This is also the most fun part of flight training, since you will build flight time with another student and go on some fun cross country trips. Some of our students have flown to other cities to grab lunch! We’re also cool with overnight trips (schedule permitting) in case you wanted to build time airline style.
Our Flight School location in Los Angeles offers great weather conditions year-round, allowing you to spend less days waiting for good weather and more time flying!
Course Description
- Here’s some good info to know about the commercial pilot course:
- A commercial pilot training certificate requires 250 hours of total time. This can end up costing quite a bit, however you can save a lot of money through “splitting” time with another student, and using an FAA Approved simulator to write off flight costs.
- We recommend allocating 30 hours of the 250 for learning the Commercial specific maneuvers. This should give you an adequate amount of flight time to learn the necessary maneuvers, and prepare for your Commercial Checkride.
- Typically, if you fly more frequently, you will retain knowledge from each flight better, and will spend less money overall during training. We recommend flying three days per week for best knowledge retention.
This course typically takes about 3-4 months to complete, if you are flying three days per week.
If you are doing this course full time, with one or two flights per day, you can become a Commercial Pilot in as little as three to four weeks! As a Commercial Pilot Certificate entails mostly building flight time, this course will take less time to complete for those who start with more flight time. If you are on a time crunch, we can assemble a perfect accelerated course for you to suit your needs.
In order to become a Private Pilot, you will need the following:
- Hold at least a Private Pilot Certificate
- At least 18 years old when taking your checkride
- US Citizenship, or be eligible for TSA Flight Training Authorization (we can help with this!)
- Third Class Medical Certificate to take your checkride* (we can recommend some Aviation Medical Examiners)
*While you can take your Commercial checkride with a Third Class Medical, you will need at least a Second Class Medical Certificate or greater to exercise the privileges of your Commercial Pilot Certificate.