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2 Answers

operating experience

Asked by: 1763 views ,
FAA Regulations, Helicopter

what is the required for a Pilots acquire operating experience and operating cycles as helicopter pilot-operated under part 121 

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2 Answers



  1. Jeff Baum on Feb 05, 2022

    You’ll be dealing with three different regulations.

    1) FAR 61 subpart G, specifically 61.161 regarding ATP Rotorcraft/Helicopter will show you the aeronautical experience required for an ATP Certificate in that category and class.

    2) FAR 121.436 which covers Pilot Qualifications while operating under part 121.

    3) FAR 121.439 which covers part 121 recently experience.

    There are a few more regulations which would come into play, but these are the main regs.

    “Cycles” is not referenced in the FARs, only “Flight Time”.

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  2. Kris Kortokrax on Feb 06, 2022

    You’ll also be dealing with reality. To my knowledge, there are no helicopter operations being conducted under Part 121.

    I suspect that you either are an aspiring helicopter pilot or a pilot with a helicopter rating wanting to build time to acquire a job flying helicopters.

    Operators don’t look only for total time. Most will set some threshold for turbine time, as most helicopter Part 135 operators use turbine helicopters.

    The minimum pilot requirements for Part 135 are contained in 135.243.

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