The private pilot license has outlived its usefulness, and it’s time to create a new pilot certification system that addresses more specifically the way people choose to fly today. The one-size-fits-all training progression through the private, commercial and instrument rating certificates just doesn’t serve today’s needs for safety and airplane utility. There are really two broad categories of flying activity that the private pilot training and testing system attempts to address-recreational and sport flying and traveling in personal airplanes. Both types of flying are equally valid, and each should be encouraged. But the demands on a pilot trying to use the national airspace system to go places on a reasonably reliable schedule are far different from those placed on the pilot who flies almost entirely for personal pleasure. Yet the current training system-which exists to meet the FAA requirements for a private license-attempts to emphasize and teach the same pilot skills to both groups. It isn’t working.
Let me be absolutely clear that I am not suggesting that one type of pilot needs to be more skillful, more talented or more highly trained than the other. The fact is that flight cannot be achieved and sustained until the aircraft reaches a lethal speed, so every pilot needs to be competent in airplane control and in pilot decision making. But beyond basic aircraft control what you need to know as a pilot largely depends on what you plan to do with your airplane.
For example, the sport pilot often chooses to fly a more demanding airplane in terms of control and performance, such as a tailwheel airplane or an antique or an aerobatic airplane. The pilot training that type of flying requires should emphasize stick and rudder skills, not great detail on integration into the airspace system. In contrast, the pilot who uses an airplane primarily for travel must be totally competent in navigating the national airspace system with its controllers, regulated airspace and the variability of weather over distance. For that type of flying, knowing how to use the autopilot and navigation system is more important than being able to land a taildragger on a breezy day.
