Airline Transport Pilot (ATP)

The ATP is the doctorate degree of piloting—and currently there are only 143,504 ATPs in the United States. ATPs must be at least 23 years old and have a minimum of 1,500 hours of flight time, including 500 hours of cross-country flight time, 100 hours of night flying, and 75 hours in actual or simulated instrument flight conditions. Most ATPs have many thousands of hours of flight time. ATPs also must have a Commercial Certificate and an Instrument Rating. ATPs typically must have a FAA Class I Medical.

The training curriculum for the ATP certificate is individually prepared for each candidate, based on experience and currency.