FAR 61.63 — Additional Aircraft Ratings
FAR 61.63 explains how to add a category, class, or type rating to your pilot certificate—training, endorsements, practical tests, and VFR-only limits.
In Plain English
FAR 61.63 lays out how to add an additional category, class, or type rating to a pilot certificate below the ATP level. The path depends on what you're adding:
- Category rating (e.g., adding rotorcraft to your airplane certificate): complete the required training and aeronautical experience, get an instructor endorsement of competence, and pass the practical test. No new knowledge test is needed if you already hold a powered category rating at that certificate level.
- Class rating (e.g., adding multi-engine to ASEL): get an instructor endorsement and pass the practical test. You generally don't need to meet specified training-time minimums—except balloon pilots adding airship.
- Type rating: must be done at the ATP practical test standard, with an instrument rating (or accept a "VFR only" limitation), and the test must be flown in actual or simulated instrument conditions. Part 121/135/subpart K pilots may use their employer's approved training program.
Why it matters: this is the regulation you'll plan around any time you upgrade your ticket—knowing whether you owe a knowledge test, how the checkride is graded, and what limitations might appear on your certificate.
Regulation Text
14 CFR § 61.63§ 61.63 Additional aircraft ratings (other than for ratings at the airline transport pilot certification level).
(a)For an additional aircraft rating on a pilot certificate, other than for an airline transport pilot certificate, a person must meet the requirements of this section appropriate to the additional aircraft rating sought.
(b)A person who applies to add a category rating to a pilot certificate:
(1) Must complete the training and have the applicable aeronautical experience.
(2) Must have a logbook or training record endorsement from an authorized instructor attesting that the person was found competent in the appropriate aeronautical knowledge areas and proficient in the appropriate areas of operation.
(3) Must pass the practical test.
(4) Need not take an additional knowledge test, provided the applicant holds an airplane, rotorcraft, powered-lift, weight-shift-control aircraft, powered parachute, or airship rating at that pilot certificate level.
(c)A person who applies for an additional class rating on a pilot certificate:
(1) Must have a logbook or training record endorsement from an authorized instructor attesting that the person was found competent in the appropriate aeronautical knowledge areas and proficient in the appropriate areas of operation.
(2) Must pass the practical test.
(3) Need not meet the specified training time requirements prescribed by this part that apply to the pilot certificate for the aircraft class rating sought; unless, the person only holds a lighter-than-air category rating with a balloon class rating and is seeking an airship class rating, then that person must receive the specified training time requirements and possess the appropriate aeronautical experience.
(4) Need not take an additional knowledge test, provided the applicant holds an airplane, rotorcraft, powered-lift, weight-shift-control aircraft, powered parachute, or airship rating at that pilot certificate level.
(d)Except as provided under paragraph (d)(6) of this section, a person who applies for an aircraft type rating or an aircraft type rating to be completed concurrently with an aircraft category or class rating—
(1) Must hold or concurrently obtain an appropriate instrument rating, except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section.
(2) Must have a logbook or training record endorsement from an authorized instructor attesting that the person is competent in the appropriate aeronautical knowledge areas and proficient in the appropriate areas of operation at the airline transport pilot certification level.
(3) Must pass the practical test at the airline transport pilot certification level.
(4) Must perform the practical test in actual or simulated instrument conditions, except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section.
(5) Need not take an additional knowledge test if the applicant holds an airplane, rotorcraft, powered-lift, or airship rating on the pilot certificate.
(6) In the case of a pilot employee of a part 121 or part 135 certificate holder or of a fractional ownership program manager under subpart K of part 91 of this chapter, the pilot must—
(i) Meet the appropriate requirements under paragraphs (d)(1), (d)(3), and (d)(4) of this section; and
(ii) Receive a flight training record endorsement from the certificate holder attesting that the person completed the certificate holder's approved ground and flight training program.
(e)(1) An applicant for a type rating or a type rating in addition to an aircraft category and/or class rating who provides an aircraft that is not capable of the instrument maneuvers and procedures required on the practical test:
(i) May apply for the type rating, but the rating will be limited to “VFR only.”
(ii) May have the “VFR only” limitation removed for that aircraft type after the applicant:
(A) Passes a practical test in that type of aircraft in actual or simulated instrument conditions;
(B) Passes a practical test in that type of aircraft on the appropriate instrument maneuvers and procedures in § 61.157; or
(C) Becomes qualified under § 61.73(d) for that type of aircraft.
(2) When an instrument rating is issued to a person who holds one or more type ratings, the amended pilot certificate must bear the “VFR only” limitation for each aircraft type rating that the person did not demonstrate instrument competency.
(f)An applicant for a type rating, at other than the ATP certification level, in a multiengine airplane with a single-pilot station must perform the practical test in the multi-seat version of that airplane, or the practical test may be performed in the single-seat version of that airplane if the Examiner is in a position to observe the applicant during the practical test and there is no multi-seat version of that multiengine airplane.
(g)An applicant for a type rating, at other than the ATP certification level, in a single engine airplane with a single-pilot station must perform the practical test in the multi-seat version of that single engine airplane, or the practical test may be performed in the single-seat version of that airplane if the Examiner is in a position to observe the applicant during the practical test and there is no multi-seat version of that single engine airplane.
(h) [Reserved]
(i)An Examiner who conducts a practical test may waive any task for which the FAA has provided waiver authority.
[Docket FAA-2006-26661, 74 FR 42552, Aug. 21, 2009, as amended by Amdt. 61-125, 75 FR 5220, Feb. 1, 2010; FAA-2023-1275, Amdt. 61-157, 89 FR 92485, Nov. 21, 2024]
Oral Exam Questions a DPE Might Ask
Q1You hold a private pilot certificate ASEL and want to add a multi-engine class rating. What does FAR 61.63 require?
Per **FAR 61.63(c)**, I need an instructor endorsement attesting to competence in the knowledge areas and proficiency in the areas of operation, and I must pass the practical test. No additional knowledge test is required since I already hold an airplane rating at that certificate level.
Q2If you take a type-rating checkride in an aircraft that can't perform the required instrument maneuvers, what happens?
Under **FAR 61.63(e)**, the type rating may be issued with a **"VFR only"** limitation. That limitation can later be removed by passing an instrument practical test in that type, completing the § 61.157 instrument maneuvers, or qualifying under § 61.73(d).
Q3At what standard is a type-rating practical test conducted, and is an instrument rating required?
Per **FAR 61.63(d)**, a type-rating practical test is conducted at the **airline transport pilot certification level**, and the applicant must hold or concurrently obtain an appropriate instrument rating and perform the test in actual or simulated instrument conditions, unless the VFR-only provisions of paragraph (e) apply.
Studying for a checkride?
Related Sections in Part 61