Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

How to become a private pilot airplane if you have helicopter time

Asked by: 2943 views , , , ,
FAA Regulations, Flight Instructor, Helicopter, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

As  an instructor, if a client comes to you and has 20 hours of helicopter time, 3 hours of solo, 3 hours of cross-country,and 1 hour of basic instrument time, what are the requirements (hours) and what endorsements does the student need to get to earn a Private Pilot license  in a single engine land airplane. He didn't continue the PPL in helicopter, he wants to do airplane PPL. Also can you provide the references in the FAR/AIM so I can review it.

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Apr 02, 2016

    The reference is 61.109(a).

    It requires 40 hours of flight time with no mention of category/class.

    Pretty much all the other requirements must be done in a single engine airplane.

    Since you are not adding a category or class rating to an existing certificate, you will need the same endorsements as any other student pilot aspiring to the private pilot certificate.

    The endorsements are contained in AC 61.65F.

    0 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 1 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.