Commercial Training

Flying for hire is a dream of many pilots. With San Carlos Flight Center, you will gain the knowledge and skills required to fly for a living. Whether you aspire to be a flight instructor, airline pilot, or just want to further your skills, we will prepare you for advanced scenarios that you will encounter in your daily flying.

Training for Commercial is very similar to the maneuvers you learned during your Private Pilot lessons, but with tighter standards. Working with a CFI, you will hone your skills by perfecting basic aerial maneuvers while you learn new ones. This will make you a more confident and capable pilot, and improve your ability to control the aircraft in a wide-range of conditions. You will also fly long cross-country flights to improve your navigation and fuel-consumption planning, as well.

In addition, you will pursue a deeper ground knowledge with your instructor. Now that you will be able to fly for hire, it is crucial that you understand all the factors that go into a flight. Once you review the ground knowledge and flight maneuvers, you will be ready to take your Commercial checkride with an FAA examiner. Once you pass, you will be able to fly for a living.

To get started with your commercial training, contact the Flight Center to get connected with one of our CFIs.

I heard you need 250 hours to earn your commercial certificate. When should I begin training?
You do need to have 250 hours at the time of the FAA checkride, but you can always begin training with a CFI at any point after earning your Private Pilot certificate. Some people prefer to fine-tune the maneuvers on their own as they build 250 hours and check-in with their CFI occasionally, while others prefer to begin training around the 200-215 hour mark, and dedicate the remaining hours to commercial training.
What aircraft can I train in?

While you can take the commercial checkride in any SCFC aircraft, you do need to log either 10 hours in a complex airplane or a technically-advanced aircraft (TAA). Previous students have used our 172 and 182 G1000 aircraft for the TAA requirement.