The Military Pilot’s GA Translation Guide

by Jason Depew, TPN Staff Writer

As a person who writes about how to get hired by the airlines, I get a lot of requests to look at resumes, applications, etc. I’m not shy to say that I’ve lost count of how many superstars I’ve helped leave active duty military service for a better life. I’ve noticed a trend on the resumes of some military pilots that leaves me concerned, and I want to address it here to help everyone avoid causing themselves problems. Let’s start by setting the stage:

Let’s say you want to fly for the Thunderbirds. You’re an F-15 pilot, but they fly the F-16. Would you walk into the interview and immediately start talking about how the F-15 is better in every way, saying that the Lawn Dart is just a pile of junk and John Boyd didn’t know what he was talking about? No. At the interview, they’re going to ask you questions about the F-16. Would you give answers like, “There’s no way a fly-by-wire control system could ever be as good as the hydraulic one on the F-15…so I just haven’t bothered looking into it. I guess you’ll teach me what I absolutely have to know when the time comes, right?”

How do you think that interview would go?

The same goes for the heavy side. Let’s say you’re leaving active duty and applying to a reserve job. You really want to live in California, and really want a DC-10 type rating. Would you, as a C-130 pilot, walk in talking about how tactical airlift is the tip of the spear, saying you’re so glad you got to spend your active duty time “doing stuff that really matters,” instead of flying circles in the sky on a tanker? I hope not. They’ll probably ask you if you’re ready to operate high bypass ratio turbofans at high altitudes after being a low-level turboprop pilot for so long. Are you going to tell them, “It’s basically the same so why should I waste my time looking up the differences? The qualification course will teach me what I need to know, right?”

Again, do you think you’ll get that job?

These same principles apply for the airlines. When you decide to leave the military for an airline, you’re applying for a civilian job. You need to make sure that you prepare for this transition and approach it with the right attitude.

The trend I see on resumes is military pilots incorrectly listing or referring to their civilian pilot ratings or experience.

Yes, recruiters know that you’re a military pilot, inexperienced in General Aviation (GA). However, as a guy who’s always been heavily involved in both worlds, I know the high standards that you purport to hold yourself to in the military. I assert that civilian aviation deserves similar care and attention from you, especially if you expect to make it your profession for the next 20-30 years. If your resume displays glaring gaps in your civilian aviation knowledge, you’re at risk of your airline’s hiring team assuming the rest of your pilot knowledge is lacking too.

This probably won’t hurt most military pilots. Your qualifications will be overwhelming and, frankly, they need you as badly as you need them. However, what if your panel interview didn’t go so well because Bad Cop got under your skin? What if you only ever flew single engine turboprops, or you only have 37.8 hours of turbine PIC time to your name? What if you’re an F-22 pilot who could only scrape together a grand total of 700-1000 hours in 10 years and you even need the company to cover the cost of getting you a Restricted ATP? For people cruising along in these types of boats, I recommend you at least make sure you don’t have any glaring faux pas in your application and/or resume.

It’s not that hard. All you have to do (all I did) is RTFM: Read The…uh…Fine…Manual. You should start with source documents: read Parts 61, 91, and 121 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. I read the first two of those as a 17-year old punk in high school. If former-Emet could buckle down to do the reading and comprehend it, then you are fully capable. (Once you get through those three parts, you might as well read Part 117 too. It’s useful and important.) If you do this, you’ll figure out most of what you need to not look like a fool when you submit a resume or show up at an interview.

However, since we’re all lazy pilots, here’s Uncle Emet’s Translation Guide…my cheat sheet for you. They’re arranged in a semi-logical order, not alphabetically.

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Term: Certificate

Also known as a pilot’s license. A piece of plastic the size of a driver’s license. These come in different levels:

• Student Pilot
• Sport Pilot
• Recreational Pilot
• Private Pilot
• Commercial Pilot
• Restricted Airline Transport Pilot (R-ATP)
• Airline Transport Pilot (ATP)
• Flight Instructor
• Ground Instructor

Reference: 61.5(a)

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Term: Rating

What you’re qualified (rated) to fly. Ratings are placed/listed on a certificate. Pilot Ratings are designated with a hierarchy:

1. Category
2. Class
3. Type

(Flight Instructor Ratings have their own separate hierarchy. More in a moment)

Reference: 61.5(b)

Term: Category

The highest level of the aircraft classification hierarchy on a pilot rating. The options for pilot ratings that you probably care about are:

• Airplane
• Rotorcraft
• Glider
• Powered-lift (aka: tiltrotor, aka: braver or dumber than me!)

Reference: 61.5.(b)(1)

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Term: Class

The level of aircraft classification that falls under Category. For our purposes, you can have pilot ratings in the Classes shown nested under these Categories:

• Airplane
  • Single-engine land (SEL)
  • Multiengine land (MEL)
  • Single-engine sea (SES)
  • Multiengine sea (MES)
• Rotorcraft
  • Helicopter
  • Gyroplane

You may notice that Glider and Powered-lift don’t have any Classes. Those aircraft all fall into single Categories.

Reference:  61.5.(b)(2)

———————

Term: Type

The level of aircraft classification that falls under Class. Only large aircraft (other than lighter-than-air,) and turbojet-powered airplanes have type ratings. (There are plenty of exceptions to this rule.)

The FAA only recognizes a specific list of Type Ratings. You can find that list here: https://registry.faa.gov/TypeRatings/

A Type Rating allows you to fly an aircraft as the Pilot In Command (PIC.) The FAA also awards Second In Command (SIC) Type Ratings for aircraft that require more than one pilot. In the US these are meaningless. You can fly on and even log SIC time on an aircraft on the Type Rating list without holding an SIC Type Rating as long as you’re in the US. Other countries have different rules, so you may need an SIC type rating for international flying. Most Type Rating courses don’t even bother with SIC. They train all pilots to the PIC standard and issue regular, old PIC Type Ratings…unless you ask for something else. (The only place I commonly see this is on warbirds. You can get an official SIC Type Rating on something like a B-25 for $5000, while a full PIC Type Rating could easily cost 5 times as much.)

Reference: 61.5(b)(7)

———————

Term: Instrument Rating

You can earn a (separate) Instrument Rating for a Private or Commercial certificate. These ratings are only awarded for the following Categories:

• Instrument – Airplane
• Instrument – Helicopter
• Instrument – Powered Lift

There are some interesting notes to go with this:

• The Instrument – Airplane Rating is good for all Classes of airplane (SEL, SES, MEL, and MES.)
• There is no provision here for an Instrument Rating in a Gyroplane.
• Instrument Ratings are for Private and Commercial Certificates only. An ATP must, by definition, be Instrument Rated. Once you get an ATP, you may think that your Instrument Rating “disappeared.” It didn’t, it’s just assumed.

Reference:  61.5(b)(8)

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Term: Privileges

You only get one pilot certificate, one piece of plastic. However, adding a Rating for a new Category/Class/Type doesn’t upgrade your other ratings. Let’s say you had a Private Pilot Certificate with an ASEL Rating. Then, you use the Military Competency rules to add on Commerical Pilot Certificate with AMEL and Instrument – Airplane Ratings.

The FAA will send you a new pilot’s license…a (plastic) Certificate that says Commercial Pilot. Under ratings it’ll list AMEL and Instrument – Airplane. Then, there will be another line that reads “Private Pilot Privileges for ASEL.”

This means that you could get paid to take people flying in something fancy like a Twin Otter, but you still couldn’t get paid to fly them in a C-172.

Yes, this is moronic. Stop whining. If you really care, get involved with your Congressional Reps and to have the FAA change its rules. I’m sure you’ll find great success. I’ll even hold my breath while I wait.

Reference:  N/A

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Term: Flight Instructor Certificate

A Flight Instructor Certificate is a separate piece of plastic from your Pilot Certificate. (They look a lot alike. The Flight Instructor Certificate has a note at the bottom saying that it’s only valid if it’s accompanied by your Pilot Certificate.) We frequently refer to this Certificate (or the person holding it) as a CFI, or Certificated Flight Instructor.

99% of the resumes I see incorrectly refer to this as a “Certified” Flight Instructor certificate. I was once told by a very crusty FAA examiner, “Son, the FAA doesn’t certify instructors. We only certificate them! Now I’m going to fail the right engine of your Piper Seminole. Fly an NDB circling approach in moderate turbulence while wearing foggles.” (I still passed that check ride. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.)

You can earn a Flight Instructor Certificate for the following Categories and Classes:

• Airplane
  • Single-engine
  • Multiengine
• Rotorcraft
  • Helicopter
  • Gyroplane
• Glider
• Powered-lift
• Instrument
  • Airplane
  • Helicopter
  • Powered-lift
• Sport Pilot

Many people use abbreviations for these different flavors of CFI. Though not formal or approved abbreviations, our industry standards are:

• CFI – CFI Airplane Single-engine
• MEI – CFI Airplane Multiengine
• CFIG – CFI Glider
• CFIH – CFI Helicopter
• CFII – CFI Instrument Airplane (If you’re a helicopter pilot talking to other helicopters pilots, you could say, “I’m a CFII” and they’d interpret you as saying “CFI Instrument Helicopter” based on the context.)