Ok … so you are still here and want to Become a Pilot. If you are reading this article first, thats ok but this is a follow up on my first article on how to become a pilot (first article here) .
Now, if you have selected a school and started calling them they might have told you something like “We are a Part 141 School” or “We are a part 61 school” in their sales pitch. What does this mean you ask, well I will tell you in a little bit, but first let me explain how it all works.
Ok – first you have to understand who issues you a pilot license, and that is the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). The FAA is a federal government agency who is tasked with the job of overseeing all the aviation legal stuff in the United States. The FAA is for aviation what the IRS is for taxes, the FAA is kind of like the aviation police. Setting the rules (laws), requirements, administering your flight test and ultimately mailing you your pilot license is one of the main things the FAA does. So – the FAA is the government agency that makes it legal for you to fly an airplane, whether it’s a small 4 seat propeller airplane or the 747 Jumbo Jet.
Now – the FAA needs teachers to teach new people wanting to become pilots, and these teachers (CFI – Certified Flight Instructors – aka PILOTS) are pilots who have attained additionl training and licencess issued by the FAA. For a pilot to be able to give instruction to someone wanting to become a pilot they must be a commercial pilot and have a CFI license as well. Understand that being a commercial pilot does not mean that they have a job flying for an airline and that they can fly “BIG PLANES”. Getting your commercial license means that you now have the skill and have gotten a license saying that you can now be paid for your piloting skills.
So to give you a little understanding of what licenses you can get I will explain these in a different article post in great detail, but here it is in a super simple way. First you have to get a Private Pilot License. Second, you have to get an Instrument Rating. Third, to get a Commercial License you have to have Private Pilot License and your Instrument Rating, than you can apply for your Commercial Pilot License which makes it legal for you to fly for hire and get paid for being a pilot.
———- Part 61 ———-
OK – so here is what Part 61 and Part 141 are, to explain this I will use an example as you the student and me the instructor.
Lets say Buy Cialis you called me and I am a Part 61 school (instructor) and you are looking to get you private pilot license, and you start training with me your instructor. Then we start flying around in the schools Cessna and we do flight maneuvers that the FAA says you have to do so that you can pass your flight test. Now, these flight maneuvers (exercises, requirements) are listed in this book called the FAR/AIM (14 CFR – FARs – the Federal Aviation Regulations Book). This book is the book of laws that govern aviation, and if you open it to Part61 (Chapter 61) you will see all the requirements you have to do to become a Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot, etc. So this is what I do, I open the book to chapter 61 and look up what I have to teach you.
Simply if someone wants a pilot license their instructor will have to teach them the things listed in part 61. A part61 School is a business that has the airplanes and instructors working for it and it does the things listed in part61 of the FAR’s so that you meet the requirements to get your Pilot License.
———- Part 141 ———-
Now – Part 141 means that the business (school) is licensed by the FAA and not just the instructors. The instructors conducting instruction for that school now have to lookup things in part 141 of that law book.
So, a part 141 school is a business just like a part 61 school who has presented the FAA a business plan of how they will have their instructors teach, and now they can call themselves a part 141 School
———- Differences ———-
Will you have a different pilot license. — NO, it’s the same licence at the end of the day.
Will I be a better pilot with one or the other. — NO, your individual instructor is what matters.
Part 141, because they are licensed has better chance of getting you a loan for your training.
But, because they are licensed my training should be better. — NO, the instructor is what matters.
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The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter if you pay a Part61 School or a Part 141 School to do the training for your license, the will get you the same license in the end. The airline or the job you are going for doesn’t care, they just care about how much experience you have (hours of flying) and if you meet their company needs.
The thing that matters the most on your journey to become a pilot in the quality of training and what makes you a better pilot is your individual instructor, and that is because most of your flight training is one on one instruction.