Section E (ECHO) - Private Pilot’s License (aeroplanes)
1. Requirements for issue of license— An applicant for Private Pilot’s License shall
satisfy the following requirements: -
(a) Age— He shall not be less than seventeen years of age on the date of application.
(b) Educational Qualification— He shall have passed Class Ten or equivalent
Examination from a recognised Board.
(c) Medical Fitness— He shall produce on a prescribed proforma, a certificate of
physical fitness from an approved medical practitioner after undergoing a medical
examination during which he shall have established his medical fitness on the basis of
compliance with the requirements as notified by the Director-General under Rule 39B.
(d) Knowledge— He shall pass a written examination in Air Regulations, Air Navigation,
Aviation Meteorology and Aircraft and Engines as per the syllabus prescribed by the
Director-General.
Provided that an applicant in possession of a valid Private Pilot’s Licence
(Helicopters) or a Commercial/Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence (Helicopters) shall pass
an examination in Aircraft and Engines only.
(e) Experience— He shall produce evidence of having satisfactorily completed as a pilot
of an aeroplane not less than forty hours of flight time which shall include—
(i) not less than ten hours of solo flight time;
(ii) not less than five hours of cross-country flight time in accordance with para
5(b) of Section A as the sole occupant of an aeroplane including a flight of not
less than one hundred and fifty nautical miles in the course of which full stop
landings at two different aerodromes shall have been made;
(iii) not less than five hours of solo flight time completed within a period of
twelve months immediately preceding the date of application for the issue of
licence;
(iv) fifty percent of the total flying experience on microlight aircraft or on a glider
acquired during the preceding twenty four months from the date of application
subject to a maximum of ten hours may be counted towards the total
experience required for the issue of the licence;
(v) solo flight time completed on light sport aircraft within the preceding twenty
four months from the date of application, subject to maximum of twenty hours,
may be counted towards the total experience required for the issue of the
licence:
Provided that not more than twenty hours of credit shall be given to an
applicant under sub-clauses (iv) and (v) put together.
(f) Flying Training— He shall have completed flying training in accordance with the
syllabus prescribed by the Director-General.
(g) Skill— He shall have demonstrated his competency to perform as a Pilot-in-
command or a Co-pilot of an aeroplane, the procedures and manoeuvres prescribed in
the syllabus, to the satisfaction of an Examiner, on the type of aeroplane to which the
application for the licence relates, within a period of six months immediately preceding
the date of application.
2. Validity — The licence shall be valid for a period as specified in Rule 39C.
3. Renewal— The licence may be renewed on receipt of satisfactory evidence of the
applicant —
(a) having undergone a medical examination in accordance with para 1(C); and
(b) having satisfactorily completed not less than five hours of flight time as
Pilot-in-command of an aeroplane within a period of twelve months immediately
preceding the date of application for renewal or in lieu thereof, having
satisfactorily completed the flying test as laid down in para 1 (g) within a period
of six months immediately preceding the date of application.
4. Ratings— (a) Aircraft Rating— The licence shall indicate the class and the types of
aeroplanes the holder is entitled to fly. An open rating for all single piston engine types
of aeroplanes having an all-up weight not exceeding one thousand five hundred Kgs.
may also be granted if he has completed not less than two hundred and fifty hours as
Pilot-in-command and has at least four different types of aeroplanes entered in the
aircraft rating of his licence :
Provided that the privileges of the open rating shall be exercised only after
having undergone a ground and flight familiarisation with a Flight Instructor or an
approved Examiner for the type of aircraft and a certificate to this effect shall be
recorded by the Flight Instructor/Examiner in the Pilot’s Log Book before the Pilot is
released to exercise the privileges of his open-rating.
(b) Night Rating— Night Rating entitles the holder of the licence to carry passengers at
night. Conditions for the issue of this rating are detailed below:--
(i) he must have completed not less than fifty hours of flight time as Pilot-in-
command and as sole manipulator of the controls including not less than five
hours by night, which must include a minimum of five take-offs and five
landings carried out within the preceding six months of the date of
application;
(ii) he must have completed a dual cross-country flight by night of at least
one hundred nautical miles before he can be permitted to undertake sole
cross-country flights by night, and
(iii) he must have completed not less than five hours of dual instructions in
instrument flying which may include not more than two and a half hours on
an approved synthetic flight trainer.
(c) Instrument Rating— Instrument rating entitles the holder of the licence to fly under
the Instrument Flight Rules. The standard of medical fitness and conditions for issue of
the rating are laid down in Section O.
5. Extension of Aircraft Rating— For extension of Aircraft Rating to include an
additional type of aeroplane, an applicant shall be required to produce evidence of —
(a) having passed written examination in Aircraft and Engines as mentioned in para
1(d);
(b) having undergone adequate dual instructions and solo flying to gain competency on
the type;
(c) having satisfactorily completed the flight test as laid down in para 1(g) on the type
within a period of six months immediately preceding date of application for the extension
of Aircraft Rating.
6. Privileges— Subject to the validity of endorsements and ratings in the licence and
compliance with the relevant provisions of Rules 39-B, 39-C and 42, the privileges of
the holder of a Private Pilot’s Licence shall be to act, but not for remuneration, as Pilot-
on-command or as Co-pilot of any aeroplane which is entered in the Aircraft Rating of
his licence and carry passengers therein :
Provided that —
(i) no flight is undertaken for hire or remuneration of any kind, whatsoever;
(ii) the passengers are carried by night only when the holder of licence is in possession
of a valid night rating and has carried out not less than five take-offs and five landings
by night as Pilot-in-command within a period of six months immediately preceding the
date of intended flight; and
(iii) no flight shall be undertaken under the Instrument Flight Rules without being in
possession of a valid Instrument Rating.
