Pilot licencing

Lore & Background

Pilot licensing began soon after the invention of powered aircraft in 1903. The Aéro-Club de France was founded in 1898 'to encourage aerial locomotion'. The Royal Aero Club followed in 1901 and the Aero Club of America was established in 1905. All three organizations, as well as representatives from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland founded the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) in 1905 as an international governing body for aeronautics. However, certificates or ratings from them were not initially mandatory. The Aéro-Club de France began issuing certificates in 1910, although these were awarded retroactively to 7 January 1909. The first certificates were to established pioneers, among them Frenchman Louis Bleriot, Henry and Maurice Farman (UK) and the Wright Brothers (US). The Royal Aero Club in the UK also began the issue of its first certificates in 1910. Among the earliest recipients were J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon, Charles Stewart Rolls, Claude Grahame-White, and Samuel Cody. British and French certificates were recognized internationally by the FAI. The Aero Club of America began issuing licenses in 1911, although these were not mandatory, and were more for prestige and show. The first recipients were Glenn Curtiss, Frank Purdy Lahm, Louis Paulhan and the Wright brothers. The requirement for an Aero Club ticket was to ascend in the machine and fly a course of a figure-eight at a given height. Individual states sometimes posed a mandate for a license but it wasn't a Federal cause until 1917.

Reader's Guide

The International Civil Aviation Organization's 'Annex 1 – Personnel Licensing' acts as the international minimum standard for licensing. However, states can deviate from these standards by notifying ICAO about the changes. In the United States, pilot certification is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). A pilot is certified under the authority of Parts 61 and 141 of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, also known as the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). In Canada, licences are issued by Transport Canada. In most European countries, licences are issued by the national civil aviation authority according to a set of common rules established by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), known as Part-FCL (Flight Crew Licensing). EASA member states include all European Union member states, as well as the members of the European Free Trade Association, i.e. Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. In the United Kingdom, aviation is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority; the United Kingdom left the EASA system on 31 December 2020. ICAO Annex 1, Chapter 2 specifies licences for pilots and for remote pilots. Standard ICAO licences include student pilot, private pilot licence, commercial pilot licence, multi-crew pilot licence, and airline transport pilot licence. Separate licences are issued for different aircraft categories, such as aeroplanes, helicopters, gliders and balloons. ICAO also specifies instrument ratings and flight instructor ratings. For remote pilots, ICAO specifies student remote pilots, remote pilot licences, and RPAS instructors.

Did You Know?

• The first certificates were awarded to Louis Bleriot, Henry and Maurice Farman, and the Wright Brothers.
• In the United States, the first licenses were issued by the Aero Club of America in 1911, but were not mandatory.
• Private pilots in the US and UK need a minimum of 40 hours of flight time, while EASA states require 45 hours.