Becoming Professional

Professional pilots must have an instru­ment rating. For this, they need to do at least 50 hours of cross-country flying (between one airfield and another). They must be able to fly by visual flight rules (VFR) and instrument flight rules (IFR) using electronic aids. IFR involves instrument training, during which pilots fly using just their instruments so that they will be able to fly even when visi­bility is poor or zero. Commercial pilots also familiarize themselves with the use
of radio, radar, and the landing systems used at airports, such as the microwave landing system (MLS) and the older instrument landing system (ILS).

Before gaining a commercial pilot license (CPL), a pilot must have complet­ed at least 250 hours of flight time, recorded in a personal log book, and must have learned to fly more complex aircraft (with flaps and retractable land­ing gear). The flight examination includes two flight sessions: one in a training aircraft and another in a more complex airplane, although a student may fly the entire test in the complex airplane. Many commercial pilots add a multi-engine rating, which they need to fly aircraft with more than one engine.