An example of a single engine land class aircraft, the ubiquitous Cessna 172

A class rating is an allowance to fly a certain group of aircraft that require training common all aircraft within the group. A Type rating is specified if a particular aircraft requires additional specialized training beyond the scope of initial license and aircraft class training. What aircraft require a type rating is decided by the local aviation authority. Almost all single engine piston (SEP) or multi engine piston (MEP) single pilot aircraft can be flown without a type rating, but are covered by a class rating instead. An exception to this under Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) regulations is the piston version of the Piper Malibu.

There are seven categories of aircraft, which may be further subdivided into two or more classes:

• airplane category
  • single-engine land class
  • multi-engine land class
    • Multi-engine class aircraft are more commonly known as "multis," and their pilots are called "multi pilots" or "multi-engine pilots."
    • Pilots of larger multi-engine aircraft are sometimes called transport pilots, although mostly in the realm of military aviation (see the article on military transport aircraft). The term transport pilot can be ambiguous in civil aviation, since the Airline Transport Pilot License is a very specific civil qualification.
  • single-engine sea class - Pilots of all sea class aircraft are usually called "seaplane pilots" or "float-plane pilots"
  • multi-engine sea class
• rotorcraft category
  • helicopter class
  • gyroplane class
• powered lift category
• glider category
• lighter than air category
  • airship class (There are very few places to obtain such a rating. One such purveyor is Airship Ventures Inc.^[1]
  • balloon class
• powered parachute category
  • powered parachute land class
  • powered parachute sea class
• weight-shift-control aircraft category
  • weight-shift-control aircraft land class
  • weight-shift-control aircraft sea class

[edit] Military Peculiarities

• In the world of military aviation, jet fighters are referred to as "jets" or "fighters", regardless of the number of engines they have. For example, the CF-18 Hornet has two engines, making it a multi-engined aircraft, but it is still referred to as a "jet" or "fighter."
• Not all jets are fighters. Pilots of jet trainers like the T-6 Texan II are "jet pilots" but not "fighter pilots."

[edit] Gallery

right|A Mars water bomber, one of the largest multi-engine sea-class aircraft, is also one of the largest water bombers	An example of an airship class aircraft in the aerostat category, a Zeppelin NT	An example of a glider class aircraft, a Schweizer SGS 2-33	An example of a rotorcraft class aircraft, a Canadian Air Force CH-149 Cormorant helicopter
An example of a rotorcraft class aircraft, a Spanish autogyro]]	An example of a small multi-engine class aircraft, a Twin Otter	An example of a very large multi-engine class aircraft, a C-17 Globemaster III	An example of a jet trainer aircraft
An example of a jet fighter aircraft

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• JAA official website - list of class and type ratings
• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Title 14: Aeronautics and Space; PART 61—CERTIFICATION: PILOTS, FLIGHT INSTRUCTORS, AND GROUND INSTRUCTORS