Kenny Keller introduces the commercial pilot rotorcraft practical test standards and contrasts them with the private pilot standards. He emphasizes that most content is similar between private and commercial, but commercial applicants are held to a higher competency level and face a more serious checkride because they may operate closer to aircraft and regulatory limitations. The video previews a follow-up that will examine specific PTS differences.
Chapters
Welcome to the introduction to the commercial pilot practical test standards. And the thing that people are surprised, they get their private and then they want to move on to commercial. And I can remember back when I was at that point and I'm searching on going, where's the new material? What else? What else is there new for commercial? Bottom line, when you're going from private to commercial, there's a difference with privileges and privileges and limitations, what you can do as a commercial pilot versus a private pil. The majority of the content, if you don't already realize this is pretty much the same stuff. And over the years, I've had people say, well, you know, private and commercial, they can't be the same. Well, they are. They're very similar. Again, privileges and limitations are different. And what I want to tell you is what I've heard my examiner say over the last 15 years. Many times he'll say, you know, okay, you were here for your private. At the private level, you were here for fun, get your license, go out, have fun, take up your friends, take up your family. Now you're coming back to me as a commercial applicant. The checkride is different in the fact that it's going to be a more serious checkride. At the private level, they want to make sure you're going to be safe. At the commercial level, they have to dig deeper because you're going to take the aircraft out and fly it closer to the limitations you're going to be getting in situations that most private pilots are probably not going to get into. That's the real truth. Private and commercial are very similar. Now, with that being said, I want to reiterate this with what the FAA says about it. The commercial pilot rotorcraft practical test standards have been designed to evaluate competency in both knowledge and skill. Commercial pilots or professionals engaged in various flight activities for compensation or higher because of their professional status, they should exhibit a significantly higher level of knowledge and skill than that of the private pilot. Although some tasks listed are similar to those in the private pilot rotorcraft practical test standards, the wording used in the commercial pilot rotorcraft practical test standards reflects a higher level of competency expected of a commercial pilot applicant in performing these similar tasks. So, kind of going along with what I'm saying, they're still very similar, but there are differences. It's a more serious checkride. You have to know everything to a higher standard. So in the next video, we're going to go through the pts and talk about the differences between the private and commercial checkrides. So leave your comments in the box below. And if you're ready to learn a little more about the difference between the private and commercial, move on to the next video.
