Airline Transport Pilot

Climbing through the cloud at 6 miles per minute and bursting out 'on-top' into brilliant sunshine at 20,000 feet whilst the rest of the world works beneath you is both a privilege and a pleasure that only a pilot can truly enjoy on a regular basis.

Back down again towards the ground, flying a $120 million jet with 150 passengers on board flying accurately on instruments along a precise approach path, breaking through the base of the cloud at 200 feet and landing safely on the runway in a 30-knot gusting crosswind, is also a unique skill set routinely demanded from an airline pilot.

Many believe that one has to be born to love flying aircraft - and they are not entirely wrong. However, today, more than anything, professional pilots are decision makers and bearers of heavy responsibility in a high-technology environment.

They work within a complex system of electronic equipment and computers, as well as managing and prioritising information and communication with other crew members as well as teams on the ground.  Pilots are capable managers in a fascinating and highly unusual workplace, responsible every day for the safety and comfort of a large number of people.

Once you have felt an airliner lift off into the air solely under your control, or have watched the sun rising over the Drakensberg at an altitude of 35,000 feet, you will never lose your passion for this challenging and stimulating vocation.

An applicant for an Airline Transport Pilot Licence (Aeroplane) must :

• Be not less than 21 years of age
• Hold a valid Class 1 medical certificate, issued in terms of Part 67
• Produce evidence of holding or having held, within the previous 60 months, the following :
  (i) a valid South African Private Pilot Licence (Aeroplane); or
  (ii) a valid instrument rating
• Have within the previous 60 months, completed a multi-crew cooperation course
• Have successfully completed the training as prescribed in Document SA-CATS-FCL 61 at an approved Part 141 aviation training organisation
• Have passed the theoretical knowledge examination as prescribed in Document SA-CATS-FCL 61.
• Have undergone the skills test referred to in regulation 61.07.4

An applicant for an Airline Transport Pilot Licence (Aeroplane) must have completed in aeroplanes not less than 1500 hours of flight time of which :

• 500 hours must be pilot-in-command-under-supervision; or
• 250 hours must be as pilot-in-command, of which up to 150 hours may be pilot-in- command-under-supervision; and
• 200 hours must be cross-country flight time, of which 100 hours may be as copilot
• or pilot-in-command-under-supervision
• 75 hours must be instrument time, of which not more than 30 hours may be acquired
  in a flight simulation training device (FSTD) approved for the purpose; and
• 100 hours shall be night flight time as pilot-in-command or as co-pilot.

For the purposes of sub-regulation (1), in the case of single-pilot aeroplanes operated by two pilots according to operational requirements as approved by the Commissioner, both pilots must have successfully completed the multi-crew co-operation training as specified in this Part.

The 1 500 hours flying experience referred to in sub-regulation (2) may comprise flight time in any of the following capacities :

1.     As pilot-in-command, counted in full

2.     As pilot under instruction (dual), counted in full

3.     As co-pilot performing under the supervision of the pilot-in-command the functions and duties of the pilot-in-command, counted in full up to a maximum of 500 hours, provided both pilots have completed multi-crew cooperation training

4.     As an appropriately rated co-pilot, counted in full

5.     As student pilot-in-command and as student pilot-in-command-under supervision up to a maximum of 50 hours towards the pilot-in-command time required for the issue of an Airline Transport Pilot Licence (Aeroplane), counted in full, provided that the Part 141 aviation training organisation has been authorised by the Commissioner to allow the logging of student pilot-in-command-under-supervision flight time

6.     (A maximum of 100 hours may have been completed in an flight simulation training device (FSTD) of which a maximum of 25 hours may have been completed in a flight procedures trainer 1 (FNPT 1), or, where the training is provided in an integrated training course, 40 hours in an FNPT II, which may include 10 hours in an FNPT 1

7.     Up to 50 percent of the 1 500 hours and each of the requirements specified in sub-regulations (2) (a), (b), (c) (d) and (e) above may be completed in helicopters

8.     A maximum of 30 hours flight time in touring motor gliders, gliders, micro light aircraft (excluding a weight-shift micro light aeroplane, or an aeroplane with a maximum take-off mass of less than 450 kg), may be counted towards the 1 500 hours experience requirement