The following are interpretations of Federal Aviation Regulations and should NOT be used as a replacement to reading the official federal regulations.

FAR 61.3 - Requirement for certificates, ratings, and authorizations

Whenever acting as a required pilot flight crew member of a civil aircraft in the United States, you must physically possess and have readily accessible, your pilot certificate, a government issued photo ID, and your medical certificate. If you are a student pilot doing a solo, you will also need your logbook with appropriate endorsements. If excising privileges of a flight instructor, you must have all of the previous documents as well as you flight instructor certificate.

FAR 61.23 Medical Certificates: Requirement and Duration

• 1st Class Medical

  • You must have a 1st class medical certificate in order to exercise privileges of an ATP certificate.

    • If you 40 years of age or older, your 1st class medical is valid for 6 calendar months.

    • If you are under 40 years of age, your 1st class medical is valid for 12 calendar months.

  • If you go passed the 6 or 12 calendar months, you medical certificate drops down to a 3rd class privileges for the next 12 calendar months.

• 2nd Class Medical

  • You must hold at least a 2nd class medical certificate to exercise privileges of a commercial certificate.

  • No matter what your age is, your 2nd class medical is valid for 12 calendar months.

• 3rd Class Medical

  • You must hold at least a 3rd class medical certificate in order to perform a solo flight with a student pilot certificate, act as PIC with a private pilot certificate, or to take a check ride for any certificate.

    • If you are 40 years of age or older, your 3rd class medical certificate is valid for 24 calendar months.

    • If you are under 40 years of age, your 3rd class medical certificate is valid for 60 calendar months.

Even with a current medical, FAR 61.53 states that, “A pilot can not act as a crew member on an aircraft is they know, or have reason to know, of any medical conditions that would make them unsafe to operate an aircraft.”

FAR 61.56 Flight Review

To act as PIC, within the previous 24 calendar months, you must have accomplished a flight review and have a logbook endorsement stating you have satisfactorily completed that review by an authorized instructor. However, an FAA practical test towards a certificate or rating can take the place of a flight review. So what exactly does this mean? Well, each time you get a new certificate or rating, or even when you renew your flight instructor certificate, your 24 calendar months starts over again.  Your flight review will be 24 calendar months after you most recent rating or certificate.

FAR 61.57 Recent Flight Experience: Pilot in Command

To act as pilot in command while carrying passengers, you must have had 3 takeoffs and 3 landings, while being the sole manipulator of the controls, within the last 90 days. These takeoffs and landings will have to be in an aircraft of the same category, class, and type (if type rating is required). So what if you have completed your takeoff and landings in a Piper Seminole, but you will be flying a Piper Archer with your passengers? This will be the same category (airplane), but not class (single engine land). So what do we need to do? Simple, just tell your passengers to hold tight for a few minutes, hop in the plane and do a few laps in the pattern doing touch-and-goes to get your 3 takeoffs and landings, and then you're good to go. What happens now if you are going to be flying your passengers at night? Lets first define night as it applies to recency. Night time will be considered 1 hour after sunset thought 1 hour before sunrise. So as long as you get you're passengers back before then, you're fine. However, if you will be landing after 1 hours after sunset or taking off before 1 hour before sunrise, you will need to make your 3 takeoff and landings at night and they will have to be to a full stop. Your night takeoff and landings can not be touch-and-goes.

FAR 61.60 Change of Address

If you move to a new perminent mailing address, you must notify the FAA within 30 days of your move. If you do not notify the FAA, then after 30 days, you are unable to exercise your flight privileges for the certificates you hold. This one is pretty straight forward, make sure you give the FAA your new address every time you move.

FAR 61.103 Private Pilot Eligibility Requirements

This regulation simply outlines the requirements that must be met in order to qualify for a private pilot certificate. These requirements include the following:

• Must be atleast 17 years of age

• Be able to read, write, speak, and understand English

• Hold either a student pilot, sport pilot, or recreational pilot certificate

• Have a logbook endorsement by an authorized instructor that states that they conducted training they certify the pilot is ready for the both the knowledge and practical tests

• Have logbook entries showing that all the required training and aeronautical experience was completed and

• Pass the required knowledge exam

• Pass the required practical exam

FAR 61.109 Private Pilot Aeronautical Experience Requirements

There is a long list of aeronautical experiences you would be required in order to qualify to take the private pilot practical test. I have outlined them all on the certificates and documents page.

FAR 61.113 Private Pilot Privileges and Limitations

Once you have your private pilot certificate, you need to understand what your privileges are and what limitations you will have. I have outlined them all on the certificates and documents page.

FAR 91.7 Civil Aircraft airworthiness

There are 2 parts to the regulation. First, it states that you can not operate any aircraft that is not airworthy. It then states that the PIC is the one responsible for determining whether the aircraft is in a condition for a safe flight or not. If not, the pilot must discontinue the flight. So what does that mean, we have to do all the maintenance checks and make sure everything is working? NO. The PIC will be responsible for determining the airworthiness based on a few different things such as the preflight walk around and the maintenance records. You will need to do the walk around to determine all required items are working and check the maintenance records to make sure all required inspections have been done. So how do you know the required items and inspections? They are all listed in the FARs as well, but I have compiled them all into one spot, Click Here to read about those.

FAR 91.3 Responsibility and Authority of the Pilot in Command

The pilot in command will be fully responsible for and have final authority for the operation of the aircraft. This regulation also states that if there is any inflight emergency, the pilot in command has the full authority to deviate from any other regulation to the extent required in order to handle said emergency. If you deviate from any regulation, you are only required to send a written report of that deviation, if the FAA requests it.

FAR 91.7 Civil Aircraft Airworthiness

This is another pretty straight forward regulation that states that you can not operate an aircraft unless it is in airworthy condition. It also states, that as the Pilot in Command, it is your job to determine whether the aircraft is safe to fly or not. If it is not safe to fly, you should make the decision to not take the flight in the aircraft until the issue you determined to be unsafe is resolved and the aircraft is safe to fly.

FAR 91.15 Dropping Objects

This is sort of a funny one to me. Something I never really thought of until I read the regulation. I thought to myself, were people dropping a lot of stuff from their aircrafts? It states that you can not drop anything from your aircraft while you are in flight if it creates a hazard to any person or property. Right after that, it states that you CAN drop objects if the proper precautions are taken to avoid injury or damage to any person or property. I guess, just don't be stupid, use common sense. I don't know how else to really explain that.

FAR 91.17 Alcohol or Drugs

The phrase "Hold my beer, watch this," doesn't usually end well. So, lets talk about the importance and seriousness of this regulation. There are a few parts to it. Lets start with talking about if you are acting as a crew member of an aircraft 91.17(a). You can not act as a crew member of a civil aircraft if you:

1. Have consumed any alcohol within the previous 8 hour

2. Are under the influence of alcohol

3. Are using any drugs that inhibit your abilities to safety

4. Have an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater in your blood or breather specimen

This is pretty straight forward, however I want to clarify a couple of things. Being hung over effects your abilities to safely operate an aircraft, which is equivalent of being under the influence of alcohol. Also, when discussing the use of drugs, this includes the use of prescribed medications. I suggest speaking with you doctor or AME about medications approved by the FAA.

The second part to the regulation 91.17(b) states that a pilot can not allow any person aboard the flight who appear intoxicated or seems to be under the influence of drugs. This does not include an emergency or a medical patient under special care.

FAR 91.103 Preflight Action

As the PIC you must become familiar with all the information concerning your flight. We use the acronym NWKRAFT to remember all the information we must be familiar with.

• NOTAMS

• Weather

• Known ATC Delays

• Runway lengths at each airport

• Alternate Airports if needed

• Fuel Requirements

• Takeoff and Landing Distances

FAR 91.105 Flight Crew at Stations

Whenever you are acting as a crew member, you must remain in your seat (at your station), with your seatbelt fastened, unless you have to get up to perform duties or to relieve yourself. This includes take-off, landing, and while in flight. The regulation also states that if your aircraft is equipped with a shoulder harness, you must have it fastened for take-off and landing. Yes, once en-route, you can remove the shoulder harness, but must re-fasten it once you come in to land. However, if the shoulder  prevents you from doing your duties as a crew member, it is not required to be fastened.

FAR 91.107 Use of Safety Belts, Shoulder Harnesses, and Child Restraint Systems

There are a few parts to the regulation and I want to make sure we discuss each part because they are all equally important. First, before you take off, you should first ensure that you properly brief all passengers how to fasten and unfasten their seatbelts. This is just like that safety briefing you see when you travel with the airlines. It ensures that the you aren’t trying to assist someone in fastening their seatbelt during a critical phase of flight, when you’re attention should refocused on other, more pertinent things. It also ensures that, if there was an emergency evacuation required, the passengers will be able to unfasten their seatbelt and everyone can get off quicker. It also states that you should not move the aircraft unless you have instructed all passengers to fasten their seatbelts. This part falls under the briefing a bit. So, not only are you showing them how, you must also give them a when. Lastly, each person onboard the aircraft must be seated in a seat, with their seat belts fastened, for taxi, takeoff, and landing. Now, there are some exceptions to this, but for the sake of not going into the weeds, I’m going to leave it at this. You should go into the FAR/AIM and review this regulation and see what those exceptions are.

FAR 91.111 Operating Near Other Aircrafts

I will give you the short and sweat breakdown of this regulation. You should not operate an aircraft close enough to another aircraft that is causes a collision hazard. If you want to fly formation flying, you have to first make appropriate arrangements with the PICs of all aircrafts flying in formation. You also can not fly formation if you are carrying passengers for hire.

FAR 91.113 Right-of-way Rules (Except Water)

Think of driving a car. You are on the road with all these other cars, very close and sometimes pretty fast. How do you they not all hit each other? There are right-of-way rules. When two people come to a stop sign at the same time, who goes first? Same goes in aviation. Whenever you are in close proximity (or about to be in close proximity) you must know who has the right-of-way in order to avoid a mid-air collision. The following are right-of-way rules for aviation.

• Aircraft in Distress - Any aircraft that is experiencing any sort of distress will have the right-of-way over all other aircrafts. This is pretty obvious if you think about it. An aircraft that is in distress has probably declared some sort of emergency. For example, say you are not instrument rated and have entered IMC. You call ATC and declare an emergency to get help. All other aircrafts in the area will give way to you as ATC tries to get you either on the ground safely, or out of IMC.

• Converging Aircrafts - If two aircrafts of the same category are converging, the aircraft on the right (from the perspective of the pilot) will have the right of way. If they are different categories, then the order is as follows:

  • Balloon - A balloon has the right of way over all other category of aircraft

  • Glider - Gliders will have the right of way over an airship, powered parachute, weight-shift-control aircraft, airplane, or rotorcraft

  • Airship - An airship will have the right of way over a powered parachute, weight-shift-control aircraft, airplane, or rotorcraft

  It is also important to note that an aircraft that is towing or refueling another aircraft will have the right of way over all other engine driven aircafts

• Approaching Head-On - Whenever 2 aircrafts are flying head-on into each other, both aircrafts will alter their course to the right. Have you ever been walking towards someone and you both try to alter your walk to one side and they pick the same side? Then you choose the other side and then they do the same? This wouldn't work very well in an aircraft because you continue forward and depending on speed, you may not have much time to go back and forth. To make things simple and take the guess work out of it, they have standardized the response. When you alter right, you know that you can expect them to do the same. However, do not let that stop you from paying attention. Sometimes there are pilots that do not study and remain aware of all regulations. It is still your job to see and avoid. Be predictable by following regulations.

• Overtaking - What about if an aircraft is maybe moving slower than other and they are going to generally the same place? The fast aircraft will overtake the slower one. In order to overtake an aircraft, you will alter your course to the right and remain well clear of them. Once you have safely passed the slower aircraft, you may head back on course. But who has the right-of-way in that scenario? Think of it this way. The aircraft in the back sees slower aircraft in front of them. They know that they will need to over take by altering right. However, the slower aircraft in the front can not see that plane behind them, so they will have the right of way. The faster aircraft will have to continue altering their course to avoid collision.

• Landing - When on final approach to land, or when landing, will have the right of way over all other aircrafts in flight or on the ground. Meaning, in simple terms, the runway is theirs. It is against this regulation if you take advantage of it in order to force another aircraft off the runway that has just landed. If two or more aircrafts are approaching an airport for the purpose of landing, then the aircraft at the lowest altitude will have the right of way. It is against this regulation if you take advantage of it by cutting someone off on final approach.

Whenever another aircraft has the right-of-way, you can not pass over, under, or go ahead of it unless you are safely clear of the other aircraft.

FAR 91.117 Aircraft Speed

• Below 10,000ft MSL - 250 KIAS

• Within 4nm of Class C or D, from the surface to 2,500ft AGL - 200KIAS

• Under the Class B shelf or within a VFR corridor - 200 KIAS

Just like there are speed limits in your car, there are speed limits in the air. It makes sense right? Lets think about it. The majority of aircraft traffic is GA traffic and GA traffic is usually below 10,000ft MSL

FAR 91.119 Minimum Safe Altitudes

Whenever you are flighting around, you need to make sure to keep a safe altitude. This FAR breaks down what those safe altitudes are. First and foremost, the general guideline is that you fly at an altitude that will allow you to make an emergency landing without causing harm to any person or property. So what does that mean? Basically what this is saying is that you should be flying at an altitude that gives you enough glide distance to safely put that plane on either a runway, a road or even in a grass field without harming anyone or damaging property. For example, You are flying low and buzzing by you buddies house and your engine dies. Your glide distance (and time to handle the emergency) will be very short. The chances of you causing harm will be higher than if you had an extra few thousand feet. 

Whenever you are over congested area, you must remain 1,000ft above the highest obstacle , within a 2,000ft radius. Thats pretty simple to understand. So whenever you are flying around cities or populated areas, and within a 2,000ft radius of a tall building, you must remain at 1,000ft above that building.

The next part that is discussed is over other than congested areas. Another way of saying this is sparsely populated areas. 

Obviously this does not apply to when you are taking off or landing, the FAR specifically says this incase of any confusion.

FAR 91.125 ATC Light Signals

Below is a graph that shows the ATC light gun signals for aircraft either on the ground or inflight. These are used to communicate with ATC when an aircraft communication system has been lost.

FAR 91.151 Fuel Requirements for VFR Flight

Fuel Reserve during the Day - 30 minutes

Fuel Reserve at Night - 45 minutes

If you are operating an airplane, you are required to ensure that you have enough fuel to fly to your airport of intended landing and assume normal cruise speed for another 30 minutes during the day, and 45 minutes at night. There are a few things to point out on this regulation to better understand it. The reserve fuel of either 30 minutes or 45 minutes is for cruise flight, so a cruise power setting. The way to do this is to calculate your fuel for your entire flight from departure airport to arrival airport. Then, calculate your fuel burn per hour and multiply it by either 0.5 (30 mins) or 0.75 (45 mins) and add that to your planned trip fuel. This will give you you’re minimum fuel required for the VRF flight. Some will add extra fuel on top of that in order to have more options available if they have to divert, but this is not required per the regulation.

FAR 91.155 Basic VFR Weather Minimums

It is important to know the minimum weather requirements in order to fly in different airspace classes. I have provided a full outline and explanation of those on the VFR Weather Minimums page.

FAR 91.157 Special VFR Weather Minimums

Before we get into the regulation, let’s talk about what Special VFR is. If the weather does not meet the minimum requirements for VFR flight (FAR 91.155), you can get a special VFR clearance with ATC in order to get in or out of an airport. Special VFR is available below 10,000ft

NOT DONE

There are 2 easy ways to determine which airports do not allow 91.157 special VFR. You can either look at the sectional and the airport will say “NO SVFR” or you can go to FAR 91 Appendix D, Section 3 and it will show you a list of those airports in one place.

FAR 91.159 VFR Cruising Altitudes

 Here it talks about the regulation for the different altitudes when in a level cruise flight in VFR. If you are below 18,000 feet, your altitude will be determined by your magnetic course.

This helps keep aircraft separation. This regulation does not apply for altitudes 3,000 feet AGL and below and it doesn’t apply when turning or in a holding pattern for 2 minutes or less.

Example: If you are flying a magnetic course of 160, you may be at 5,500 feet. Then if your magnetic course changes to something like 190 degrees, you would either climb to 6,500 feet or defend to 4,500 feet.

FAR 91.203 Civil Aircraft: Certifications Required

Looking at this regulation, it seems very bulky and sometimes confusing to some. However, it is fairly simple. It simply states that you can not fly an aircraft unless it has the following certificates valid and displayed visually in the aircraft:

1. Current Airworthiness Certificate

2. Registration Certificate

According to FAR 47.40, aircraft registration is valid for 3 years and according to FAR 21.181, the airworthiness certificate is valid as long as the aircraft remains in an airworthy condition. There are a few more parts to this regulation, but they most likely will not apply to you in this phase of your pilot training. I do however, suggest you go read them anyways.

FAR 91.205 Instrument and Equipment Requirements

FAR 91.207 Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT)

FAR 91.209 Aircraft Lights

There are two parts to this regulation when it comes to aircraft lights. Let’s start with the anti-collision lights. If the aircraft has an anti-collision light system, Then you must use the anti-collision lights. However, the regulation does also add that the you can turn off the anti-collision lights if you determine that you will turn off the lights for the interest of safety. For example, you can turn them off at night, when you are holding short of the runway in order to not blind or flash the strobes at the aircraft landing in front of you. Now, let’s talk about position lights. During the period between sunset and sunrise (night), you can not operate an aircraft unless it has working position lights.

FAR 91.211 Supplemental Oxygen

FAR 91.215 ATC Transponder and Altitude Reporting Equipment and Use

FAR 830.5 Immediate Notification to NTSB

FAR 91.126, FAR 91.127, FAR 91.129, FAR 91.130, FAR 91.131