361 

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

§ 125.287 

Subpart I—Flight Crewmember 

Requirements 

§ 125.281 Pilot-in-command qualifica-

tions. 

No certificate holder may use any 

person, nor may any person serve, as 
pilot in command of an airplane unless 
that person— 

(a) Holds at least a commercial pilot 

certificate, an appropriate category, 
class, and type rating, and an instru-
ment rating; and 

(b) Has had at least 1,200 hours of 

flight time as a pilot, including 500 
hours of cross-country flight time, 100 
hours of night flight time, including at 
least 10 night takeoffs and landings, 
and 75 hours of actual or simulated in-
strument flight time, at least 50 hours 
of which were actual flight. 

§ 125.283 Second-in-command quali-

fications. 

No certificate holder may use any 

person, nor may any person serve, as 
second in command of an airplane un-
less that person— 

(a) Holds at least a commercial pilot 

certificate with appropriate category 
and class ratings, and an instrument 
rating; and 

(b) For flight under IFR, meets the 

recent instrument experience require-
ments prescribed for a pilot in com-
mand in part 61 of this chapter. 

§ 125.285 Pilot qualifications: Recent 

experience. 

(a) No certificate holder may use any 

person, nor may any person serve, as a 
required pilot flight crewmember un-
less within the preceding 90 calendar 
days that person has made at least 
three takeoffs and landings in the type 
airplane in which that person is to 
serve. The takeoffs and landings re-
quired by this paragraph may be per-
formed in a flight simulator if the 
flight simulator is qualified and ap-
proved by the Administrator for such 
purpose. However, any person who fails 
to qualify for a 90-consecutive-day pe-
riod following the date of that person’s 
last qualification under this paragraph 
must reestablish recency of experience 
as provided in paragraph (b) of this sec-
tion. 

(b) A required pilot flight crew-

member who has not met the require-
ments of paragraph (a) of this section 
may reestablish recency of experience 
by making at least three takeoffs and 
landings under the supervision of an 
authorized check airman, in accord-
ance with the following: 

(1) At least one takeoff must be made 

with a simulated failure of the most 
critical powerplant. 

(2) At least one landing must be made 

from an ILS approach to the lowest 
ILS minimums authorized for the cer-
tificate holder. 

(3) At least one landing must be made 

to a complete stop. 

(c) A required pilot flight crew-

member who performs the maneuvers 
required by paragraph (b) of this sec-
tion in a qualified and approved flight 
simulator, as prescribed in paragraph 
(a) of this section, must— 

(1) Have previously logged 100 hours 

of flight time in the same type airplane 
in which the pilot is to serve; and 

(2) Be observed on the first two land-

ings made in operations under this part 
by an authorized check airman who 
acts as pilot in command and occupies 
a pilot seat. The landings must be 
made in weather minimums that are 
not less than those contained in the 
certificate holder’s operations speci-
fications for Category I operations and 
must be made within 45 days following 
completion of simulator testing. 

(d) An authorized check airman who 

observes the takeoffs and landings pre-
scribed in paragraphs (b) and (c)(2) of 
this section shall certify that the per-
son being observed is proficient and 
qualified to perform flight duty in op-
erations under this part, and may re-
quire any additional maneuvers that 
are determined necessary to make this 
certifying statement. 

[Doc. No. 19779, 45 FR 67235, Oct. 9, 1980, as 
amended by Amdt. 125–27, 61 FR 34561, July 2, 
1996; Doc. No. FAA–2022–1355; Amdt. 125–72; 87 
FR 75847, Dec. 9, 2022] 

§ 125.287 Initial and recurrent pilot 

testing requirements. 

(a) No certificate holder may use any 

person, nor may any person serve as a 
pilot, unless, since the beginning of the 
12th calendar month before that serv-
ice, that person has passed a written or