Regulation Text
(a) General. The knowledge test for an airline transport pilot certificate is based on the aeronautical knowledge areas listed in paragraph (c) of this section that are appropriate to the aircraft category and class rating sought.
(b) Aircraft type rating. A person who is applying for an additional aircraft type rating to be added to an airline transport pilot certificate is not required to pass a knowledge test if that person's airline transport pilot certificate lists the aircraft category and class rating that is appropriate to the type rating sought.
(c) Aeronautical knowledge areas. (1) Applicable Federal Aviation Regulations of this chapter that relate to airline transport pilot privileges, limitations, and flight operations;
(2) Meteorology, including knowledge of and effects of fronts, frontal characteristics, cloud formations, icing, and upper-air data;
(3) General system of weather and NOTAM collection, dissemination, interpretation, and use;
(4) Interpretation and use of weather charts, maps, forecasts, sequence reports, abbreviations, and symbols;
(5) National Weather Service functions as they pertain to operations in the National Airspace System;
(6) Windshear and microburst awareness, identification, and avoidance;
(7) Principles of air navigation under instrument meteorological conditions in the National Airspace System;
(8) Air traffic control procedures and pilot responsibilities as they relate to en route operations, terminal area and radar operations, and instrument departure and approach procedures;
(9) Aircraft loading, weight and balance, use of charts, graphs, tables, formulas, and computations, and their effect on aircraft performance;
(10) Aerodynamics relating to an aircraft's flight characteristics and performance in normal and abnormal flight regimes;
(11) Human factors;
(12) Aeronautical decision making and judgment;
(13) Crew resource management to include crew communication and coordination; and
(14) For an airline transport pilot certificate with an airplane category multiengine class rating or an airline transport pilot certificate obtained concurrently with a multiengine airplane type rating, the content of the airline transport pilot certification training program in § 61.156.
Research Notes
Regulatory Cross-References
§ 61.155 enumerates the knowledge areas for the ATP knowledge test. The list includes advanced subjects not tested at commercial level: air traffic control procedures and phraseology, crew resource management (CRM), high-altitude operations (including high-altitude weather, physiological aspects of high-altitude flight, oxygen systems), and turbine powerplant theory and operation.
ATP-CTP Prerequisite
Since August 2014, applicants must complete the Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program (ATP-CTP) under § 61.156 before they can take the ATP knowledge test. The ATP-CTP is a 30-hour course (minimum) at an approved training center. Without the completion certificate from an ATP-CTP provider, the testing center will not administer the ATP knowledge test. This is a hard prerequisite — not a recommendation.
ATP Knowledge Test
The ATP Airplane (ATM) knowledge test minimum score is 70%. Knowledge test results are valid for 60 calendar months for the ATP certificate per § 61.39(a)(5). However, the ATP-CTP completion certificate has no time limit for the knowledge test eligibility — only the score result (60 months) matters for test re-use.
Key Authorities
- § 61.156 — ATP-CTP prerequisite course
- AC 61-138 — Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program
- FAA-H-8083-25B — Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (ATP-level chapters)
- FAA-H-8083-15B — Instrument Flying Handbook
Amendment History
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AOA Notes
These notes correspond to the highlighted phrases in the regulation text above. Each one flags something worth knowing — a common misread, a checkride gotcha, or a practical pro tip.
CFI Commentary
Highlighted phrases in the regulation text above link to instructor notes at the bottom of this page. Look for the amber or blue highlights — each one flags a gotcha or a pro tip worth knowing.