Training, Endorsements and Aeronautical Experience

A private pilot applicant must receive ground and flight training from an authorized instructor covering the required knowledge areas and areas of operation. Along the way the instructor provides endorsements in your logbook certifying that you are prepared to fly solo, to take the knowledge test, and to take the practical test. These endorsements are official records and cannot be self-signed. For an airplane single-engine rating the experience requirement is a minimum of 40 hours, including at least 20 hours of dual instruction and 10 hours of solo flight. The regulation (14 CFR 61.109(a)) spells out what must be inside those hours, and the test asks for the exact numbers: 3 hours of cross-country dual; 3 hours of night dual including one cross-country of over 100 nautical miles total distance and 10 takeoffs and 10 landings to a full stop at an airport; 3 hours of flight solely by reference to instruments; and 3 hours of practical-test preparation with an instructor within the 2 calendar months before the checkride. The 10 solo hours must include 5 hours of solo cross-country, one solo cross-country of at least 150 nautical miles total distance with full-stop landings at three points and one segment consisting of a straight-line distance of more than 50 nautical miles between the takeoff and landing locations, plus three takeoffs and three full-stop landings at an airport with an operating control tower. In practice most students take more than 40 hours, so the number is a floor rather than a target. Logging your time accurately matters because the examiner will review your logbook and endorsements before the checkride.