Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

4 Answers

Does night time from my private pilot training count toward my commercial pilot rating?

Asked by: 9018 views , , , ,
Commercial Pilot, FAA Regulations, Helicopter

I am getting close to getting my commercial pilot license for helicopters. I have a question about some of the requirements for night time. 61.129 (c)(3)(ii) states that I need 5 hours of night VFR with 10 takeoffs and landings. During my flight training for my private pilots license I had to have 3 hours of night VFR. Does this time count towards my commercial requirements?

Part 61.129 (c)(3) states that I need 20 hours of flight training in the areas listed in 61.127(b)(3) including... Which makes me think that I need to get 5 more hours for my commercial rating.

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.

4 Answers



  1. John D. Collins on Aug 29, 2012

    The 20 hours of flight training in the areas listed in 61.127(b)(3) have to be accomplished after you have earned your private pilot license. Since the night time is part of the 20 hours, you can’t count the time prior to earning your private pilot certificate. The time you logged for your private pilot training counts towards your time requirement in 61.129 (c)(1) and (2), but not (3) which is training specifically to meet the commercial training requirements.

    +4 Votes Thumb up 4 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Koehn on Aug 29, 2012

    AOPA covered this a while ago, and there’s another question on this topic on askacfi.com, but yes, you can count instrument time toward the commercial ticket.

    Relevant quote: The FAA’s new clarification of that LOI said in part, “We anticipate that for commercial pilot applicants who already hold an instrument rating, the hours of instrument training used to obtain that rating will meet at least some, if not most, or quite often, meet all the requirements for instrument aeronautical experience as required under 61.129.”

    See here: http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2010/101220FAA_clarification_on_letter_of_interpretation.html

    And specifically here: http://download.aopa.org/epilot/2010/101220theriault.pdf

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Koehn on Aug 29, 2012

    From the AOPA:

    The FAA’s new clarification of that LOI said in part, “We anticipate that for commercial pilot applicants who already hold an instrument rating, the hours of instrument training used to obtain that rating will meet at least some, if not most, or quite often, meet all the requirements for instrument aeronautical experience as required under 61.129.”

    http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2010/101220FAA_clarification_on_letter_of_interpretation.html

    http://download.aopa.org/epilot/2010/101220theriault.pdf

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  4. Kris Kortokrax on Aug 29, 2012

    John’s answer to the original poster was spot on. The poster asked about using night time from his private helicopter training to satisfy requirements for a commercial helicopter rating. You post an answer concerning using instrument training time to satisfy the instrument requirements for commercial training.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 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.