The private pilot license has outlived its usefulness, and it’s time to create a new pilot certification system that addresses more specifically the way people choose to fly today. The one-size-fits-all training progression through the private, commercial and instrument rating certificates just doesn’t serve today’s needs for safety and airplane utility.
There are really two broad categories of flying activity that the private pilot training and testing system attempts to address-recreational and sport flying and traveling in personal airplanes. Both types of flying are equally valid, and each should be encouraged. But the demands on a pilot trying to use the national airspace system to go places on a reasonably reliable schedule are far different from those placed on the pilot who flies almost entirely for personal pleasure. Yet the current training system-which exists to meet the FAA requirements for a private license-attempts to emphasize and teach the same pilot skills to both groups. It isn’t working.
