How to Prepare

Updated July 2026 · by Jeff, pilot and builder of Zeekin Around

The ATP is the last pilot certificate, and it works differently from every one before it. The knowledge test has a mandatory prerequisite course, the experience requirements are measured in the thousands of hours, and the practical test is almost always flown in a simulator as part of a type rating. This page maps the route; verify every requirement against the current 14 CFR part 61 before you commit money to it.

1. Eligibility is its own project

The baseline (14 CFR 61.153): be 23 years old, hold a commercial certificate with an instrument rating (or qualifying military/foreign equivalents), and meet the aeronautical experience of 61.159 — at least 1,500 hours total time, including 500 cross-country, 100 night, 75 instrument, 250 PIC (or SIC performing PIC duties), and 50 in the class of airplane sought. The restricted ATP (61.160) lowers the total to 750 hours for qualifying military pilots, 1,000 or 1,250 hours for graduates of approved aviation degree programs — at age 21 — with the restriction lifting once you meet the full 1,500-hour requirements.

2. The ATP-CTP comes before the knowledge test

You cannot take the multiengine ATP knowledge test without a graduation certificate from an ATP Certification Training Program (61.156): at least 30 hours of academic training — high-altitude aerodynamics, meteorology, air carrier operations — plus simulator training in a full flight simulator representing a multiengine turbine airplane. Airlines often bundle it with new-hire training; buying it yourself runs real money, which is why most civilian pilots take the knowledge test through an employer.

3. Study the ACS like an airline ground school

FAA-S-ACS-11A is written at transport-category depth: stall prevention per the post-Colgan training rules, V1 philosophy, TALPA landing assessments, part 117 fatigue rules, dispatch and operational control. This guide covers every area and task — work through them in order, and use the flashcards on Study Sessions to keep the regulatory numbers current while you build hours.

4. The practical test is a type rating

For nearly everyone the ATP practical is flown in a Level C or D full flight simulator, concurrent with a type rating, inside a part 121/135/142 training program. That means the maneuvers, profiles, and callouts are your operator's — this guide deliberately avoids asserting type-specific numbers. Bring the AFM, the FSB report, and your company profiles; bring this guide for the knowledge and risk-management elements the oral draws from.

5. Fly like a crew before you are one

What examiners consistently fault at the ATP level is not stick and rudder — it is command. Threat and error management, use of automation, crew resource management, and the discipline to go around or divert early. Those threads run through every task in this guide because they run through every task in the ACS.