Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Hours needed?

Asked by: 2759 views Commercial Pilot, Flight Instructor, Helicopter

 I am a military helicopter pilot and went to a school that has a military conversion where you attain your ME Commercial Instrument rating. That said I now hold a ME Commercial Instrument rating and a RH Commercial Instrument rating. I am overseas and it is extremely hard to find ME airplanes and if you do really expensive. I am looking at going ahead and getting my SE commercial at a place nearby. I know most typically get a SE first then the ME but it just worked out differently for me.  I understand the hours in Part 61 but I don't see anything covering my situation. My question is with my ratings held do I still need the 40 hours and 10 hours solo and the other hours listed for SE? 

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Dauntless Aviation's GroundSchool series of apps are the smart pilot's choice for fast and effective FAA knowledge test prep.
Actual, up-to-date FAA questions Polished user experience
Best explanations in the business Free lifetime updates!
Private Pilot IFR Commercial Pilot CFI ATP Sport Pilot Sport Pilot Instructor Parachute Rigger Aviation Mechanic (A&P)
You can get the app now and be studying right away. Available for PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android.

2 Answers



  1. Russ Roslewski on Apr 05, 2016

    You said you are overseas but didn’t specify if you’d be training in a U.S.-registered aircraft or not, or if the SE add-on would be to your U.S. pilot certificate or to a foreign one, so I’m going to answer as if this is all happening in the U.S. If not, then different rules apply.

    The reference you are looking for is 61.63, specifically paragraph (c).

    Since you’re adding on an aircraft class, you don’t have to take a knowledge test, you don’t have any minimum number of hours, you just need to train to proficiency, get endorsed by a CFI for the checkride, and go take it!

    It’s the exact situation that happens daily for folks adding on a Commercial ME to the Comm SE certificate. Many people start training for a ME add-on, say Friday afternoon and have the checkride Sunday afternoon.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. kcasper72 on Apr 05, 2016

    Thank you for the reply. I am stationed overseas but will be flying N registered so your reply helps and I will read 61.63. Knowing that I wont have to pay for all those hours is really nice especially after spending all that money for the ME commercial course.
    Thanks again!

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 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.