Personnel licensing, ratings and medical certification
Licence structure
Part 61 issues pilot licences - PPL, CPL, ATPL, and for helicopters and balloons separately - plus ratings: type ratings, instrument ratings, instructor ratings and category ratings. An ATPL requires the applicant to be at least 21, hold or meet the requirements for a CPL, complete the ATPL examinations and flight test, and hold a current Class 1 medical certificate under Part 67. The ICAO-standard total flight time is 1,500 hours, with the PIC, cross-country, night and instrument components set out in the Part.
Privileges and limits
An ATPL lets the holder act as PIC of an aircraft in air transport operations and exercise all CPL and PPL privileges. It does not confer a type rating: the pilot still needs the type rating, operator conversion and route or airfield qualification before flying a Part 121 or 125 service. A Class 1 medical is required to exercise ATPL privileges; if it lapses, the licence does not disappear but its privileges cannot be exercised.
Recency
Before carrying passengers, a pilot must have made three take-offs and three landings in the same type in the preceding 90 days; at night, three of those must be at night. Instrument ratings carry their own recency and proficiency-check requirements set by the operator and Part 61.
Worked example
An ATPL(A) holder last flew 110 days ago and is rostered to carry passengers tomorrow. The licence and medical are valid, but recency has lapsed. The pilot needs three take-offs and landings in the type, or an approved simulator session where allowed, before the flight. If the flight is at night, the landings must be at night. A valid medical alone does not restore recency.
Traps
Assuming an ATPL automatically authorises any type; confusing licence validity with privilege currency; forgetting the medical class; treating simulator currency as always acceptable when the rule requires the aircraft.