What You Need for Your FAR Part 61

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To earn your commercial rating, you must have 250 hours of training at a minimum. Those hours must consist of at least:

• 100 hours of pilot-in-command flight time, which includes at least

• 50 hours in cross-country flight

 

Dual: 20 hours minimum of flight training with an instructor on the Private Pilot areas of operation including:

• 10 hours of training in a complex airplane, a turbine-powered airplane, or a technically advanced airplane (TAA)

• One 2-hour cross-country flight in a single-engine airplane in daytime conditions that consists of a total straight-line distance of more than 100 nautical miles from the original point of departure

• One 2-hour cross-country flight in a single-engine airplane in nighttime conditions that consists of a total straight-line distance of more than 100 nautical miles from the original point of departure

• Three hours in a single-engine airplane with an authorized instructor in preparation for the practical test within the preceding 2 calendar months from the month of the test

 

Solo: 10 hours minimum of solo or 10 hours of flight time performing the duties of pilot in command in a single engine airplane with an authorized instructor on board on the Private Pilot areas of operation including:

• One cross-country flight of not less than 300 nautical miles total distance, with landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is a straight-line distance of at least 250 nautical miles from the original departure point. 

  • Hawaiian Pilots need only have a straight-line distance of at least 150 nautical miles

• 5 hours in night VFR conditions with 10 takeoffs and 10 landings (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport with an operating control tower