Flight Training From Flight Instructors Not Certificated by the FAA

Research Notes — § 61.41 Flight Training from Flight Instructors Not Certificated by the FAA

Regulatory Context

Section 61.41 establishes when flight training from non-FAA-certificated instructors can be credited toward the requirements of an FAA pilot certificate or rating. This serves two groups: U.S. military pilots transitioning to civilian certificates, and foreign nationals who received training abroad under an ICAO-contracting state's licensing authority and now seek FAA certificates.

Two Qualifying Categories

Military flight instructors: Training given by a military flight instructor in a program for training military pilots — either U.S. military or a foreign contracting state's military aviation program — counts toward FAA certificate requirements. This is why military pilots can credit their military flight time and training toward commercial, ATP, and rating requirements without having had an FAA-certificated instructor.

Foreign authorized instructors: A foreign flight instructor who is authorized by their country's civil aviation authority (which must be an ICAO contracting state) may give training that counts toward FAA certificates, but only if that training is given outside the United States. Foreign instructors cannot give FAA-creditable training on U.S. soil unless they hold an FAA flight instructor certificate.

Endorsement Authority — Limited

Paragraph (b) limits what non-FAA-certificated instructors can do: they can endorse logbooks to document training given, but that is the extent of their authorization under U.S. regulations. They cannot give the checkride endorsement required by § 61.39 for a practical test application — that must come from an FAA-certificated instructor.

Convention on International Civil Aviation (ICAO)

The "Convention on International Civil Aviation" referenced throughout this section is the Chicago Convention (1944), which established the international framework for civil aviation standards. ICAO contracting states are nations that have signed the convention and agreed to meet ICAO standards, including pilot licensing. A current list of contracting states is available from ICAO at ICAO Contracting States.

Cross-Reference

For military pilots seeking FAA certificates based on military experience, § 61.73 (military competence) provides a separate, potentially faster pathway. Section 61.41 governs the credit of training hours; § 61.73 addresses certificate issuance on the basis of military competence. These are complementary, not mutually exclusive, pathways.