Not An Inch Off The Ground...yet... First things first

Imagine a friend of yours just said to you, "Hey, let's go rent a plane and do some sightseeing." Now that friend of yours has never ever touched an airplane his entire life. Would you agree to go with him? Personally, and out of common sense, I wouldn't.

It is logical that before any person be allowed to fly any aircraft, he or she must possess sufficient knowledge to operate it safely and properly. This knowledge is gained in the form of ground school and flight lessons with a flight instructor.

Just as one needs a driving license in order to drive an automobile, so one needs a pilot's license in order to fly an airplane. For most people, this takes the form of the Private Pilot License, otherwise known as a PPL. Generally speaking, a PPL allows a person to fly specific types of single-engine aircraft for non-commercial purposes, i.e. you can't make money out of it.

The specific requirements in order to obtain a PPL vary from country to country, although one will find they are quite similar. Here in India, I am required by law, as a student pilot, to complete the following:

Private Pilot’s License (aeroplanes)

1. Requirements for issue of license— An applicant for Private Pilot’s License shall satisfy the

following requirements :-

(a) Age— He shall not be less than seventeen years of age on the date of application.

(b) Educational Qualification— He shall have passed Class Ten or equivalent Examination from a recognised Board.

(c) Medical Fitness— He shall produce on a prescribed proforma, a certificate of physical fitness from an approved medical practitioner after undergoing a medical examination during which he shall have established his medical fitness on the basis of compliance with the requirements as notified by the Director-General under Rule 39B.

(d) Knowledge— He shall pass a written examination in Air Regulations, Air Navigation, Aviation Meteorology and Aircraft and Engines as per the syllabus prescribed by the Director-General.

Provided that an applicant in possession of a valid Private Pilot’s License (Helicopters) or a Commercial/Airline Transport Pilot’s License (Helicopters) shall pass an examination in Aircraft and Engines only.

(e) Experience— He shall produce evidence of having satisfactorily completed as a pilot of an aeroplane not less than forty hours of flight time which shall include—

(i) not less than twenty hours of solo flight time;

(ii) not less than five hours of cross-country flight time in accordance with para 

5(b) of Section A as the sole occupant of an aeroplane including a flight of not less than one hundred a fifty nautical miles in the course of and which full stop landings at two different aerodromes shall have been made;

(iii) not less than ten hours of solo flight time completed within a period of twelve months immediately preceding the date of application for the issue of license;

(iv) fifty percent of solo flying experience on microlight aircraft acquired during the preceding twenty four months from the date of application subject to a maximum of ten hours, may be credited towards the total experience required for the issue of the license.

(v) fifty percent of solo gliding experience shall count towards total flying experience requirement subject to a maximum of ten hours towards total flight time.

(f) Flying Training— He shall have completed flying training in accordance with the syllabus prescribed by the Director-General.

(g) Skill— He shall have demonstrated his competency to perform as a Pilot-in- command or a Co-pilot of an aeroplane, the procedures and manoeuvres prescribed in the syllabus, to the satisfaction of an Examiner, on the type of aeroplane to which the application for the license relates, within a period of six months immediately preceding the date of application.

2. Validity— The period of validity shall commerce from the date of issuer renewal of the license. The license shall be valid for period as specified in the Rule 39C subject to compliance with renewal requirements as stipulated in para 3 hereinafter.

3. Renewal— The license may be renewed on receipt of satisfactory evidence of the applicant

(a) having undergone a medical examination in accordance with para 1(C); and

(b) having satisfactorily completed not less than five hours of flight time as Pilot- in-command of an aeroplane within a period of twelve months immediately preceding the date of application for renewal or in lieu thereof, having satisfactorily completed the flying test as laid down in para 1 (g) within a period of six months immediately preceding the date of application.

4. Ratings— (a) Aircraft Rating— The license shall indicate the class and the types of aeroplanes the holder is entitled to fly. An open rating for all single piston engine types of aeroplanes having an all-up weight not exceeding one thousand five hundred Kgs. may also be granted if he has completed not less than two hundred and fifty hours as Pilot-in-command and has at least four different types of aeroplanes entered in the aircraft rating of his license :

Provided that the privileges of the open rating shall be exercised only after having undergone a ground and flight familiarisation with a Flight Instructor or an approved Examiner for the type of aircraft and a certificate to this effect shall be recorded by the Flight Instructor/Examiner in the Pilot’s Log Book before the Pilot is released to exercise the privileges of his open-rating.

(b) Night Rating— Night Rating entitles the holder of the license to carry passengers at night. Conditions for the issue of this rating are detailed below :-

(i) he must have completed not less than fifty hours of flight time in-command and as sole manipulator of the controls including than five hours by night, which must include a minimum of five and five landings carried out within the preceding six months of application;

(ii) he must have completed a dual cross-country flight by night of at least one hundred nautical miles before he can be permitted to undertake sole cross-country flights by night, and

(iii) he must have completed not less than five hours of dual instructions in instrument flying which may include not more than two and a half hours on an approved synthetic flight trainer.

(c) Instrument Rating— Instrument rating entitles the holder of the license to fly under the Instrument Flight Rules. The standard of medical fitness and conditions for issue of the rating are laid in Section O.

5. Extension of Aircraft Rating— For extension of Aircraft Rating to include an additional type of aeroplane, an applicant shall be required to produce evidence of —

(a) having passed written examination in Aircraft and Engines as mentioned in para 1(d);

(b) having undergone adequate dual instructions and solo flying to gain competency on the type;

(c) having satisfactorily completed the flight test as laid down in para 1(g) on the type within a period of six months immediately preceding date of application for the extension of Aircraft Rating.

6. Privileges— Subject to the validity of endorsements and ratings in the license and compliance with the relevant provisions of Rules 39-B, 39-C and 42, the privileges of the holder of a Private Pilot’s License shall be to act, but not for remuneration, as Pilot-on-command or as Co-pilot of any aeroplane which is entered in the Aircraft Rating of his license and carry passengers therein :

(i) no flight is undertaken for hire or remuneration of any kind, whatsoever;

(ii) the passengers are carried by night only when the holder of license is in possession of a valid night rating and has carried out not less than five take-offs and five landings by night as Pilot-in-command within a period of six months immediately preceding the date of intended flight; and

(iii) no flight shall be undertaken under the Instrument Flight Rules without being in possession of a valid Instrument Rating.

Once I have completed all of the above, I will be issued a PPL - and I shall be on my way to new horizons! Dear readers, these are my goals and I am determined to complete them - as long as it brings me closer to the skies. As one anonymous person wrote, "To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home." Stay tuned for next post, in which we shall have an introduction to one of the training aircraft: the Cessena- 152."