How many hours do you need for an ATP? Under 14 CFR §61.159, an unrestricted Airline Transport Pilot certificate requires 1,500 hours total time, including 500 hours cross-country, 100 hours night, 75 hours of instrument time, and 250 hours as pilot-in-command. The Restricted-ATP path under §61.160 lowers the 1,500-hour total to 1,000, 1,250, or 1,500 hours depending on your training background — a military, four-year aviation-degree, or two-year aviation-degree route.
The gap between where you are and where a regional wants you is measured in categories, not just a single total number. AeroCopilot keeps that running tally live: every flight you log rolls up into PIC, cross-country, night, and instrument buckets, so the moment the hiring window opens you can see — and export — exactly where you stand. You are solely responsible for meeting the regs; the app makes the count honest and instant.
- Live hour-category tracking toward §61.159 — total time, 500 XC, 100 night, 75 instrument, and 250 PIC, each with its own progress bar
- R-ATP awareness — see your total against the §61.160 reduced thresholds (1,000 / 1,250 / 1,500) for your pathway
- Auto-filled 8710-1 category totals you can hand to an airline application without re-tallying by hand
- The §61.129 commercial 250-hour path tracked in parallel, so you clear the commercial certificate on the way to the ATP
- A logbook compliant with 14 CFR §61.51 — the record you present when an examiner or employer asks
- Clean CSV and PDF exports built for airline application packets and recruiter uploads
What an airline-bound pilot actually needs. The hours that gate the job, counted the way the reg does.
The road to 1,500. How the count moves as you build time.
From your first logged hour to the airline application, one honest count.
The hardest part of building toward the airlines is not flying the hours — it is knowing, at any moment, exactly which category is holding you back. AeroCopilot turns your logbook into that answer: a live rollup of §61.159 experience, the §61.160 R-ATP reductions for your pathway, and the §61.129 commercial milestone, all measured against the numbers a regional will check.
The logbook is compliant with 14 CFR §61.51, and the totals it produces are only as good as the flights you enter — but the arithmetic is never yours to redo. You are solely responsible for meeting the applicable regulations and for the accuracy of your record; AeroCopilot makes the count instant, categorized, and export-ready the day you need it.
What AeroCopilot does — and what stays your responsibility
A logbook that overstates helps no one. Here is the honest line.
- AeroCopilot tracks and totals your hours by category; it does not certify eligibility. You are solely responsible for meeting the §61.159 / §61.160 / §61.129 requirements and for the accuracy of every entry.
- The logbook is compliant with 14 CFR §61.51 — it is not an "official FAA logbook" and there is no such thing. The FAA specifies what you must record, not a mandated app; the record you keep here is the record you present.
- Exports are CSV and PDF today, formatted for airline applications and your own backups. Direct submission into an airline's application system is not something any logbook does for you.
- You can import an existing history from CSV — including a one-way, read-only import from MyFlightbook, our partner — so your prior hours count from day one. See the switching-logbooks guide.
Start counting the hours that get you hired.
Free to start. Log your next flight and watch the ATP categories move.
Airline-bound questions, answered.
How many hours do I need for an ATP?
Under 14 CFR §61.159, an unrestricted Airline Transport Pilot certificate requires 1,500 hours of total time, including 500 hours of cross-country flight time, 100 hours of night flight time, 75 hours of instrument time (actual or simulated), and 250 hours as pilot-in-command. AeroCopilot tracks each of these categories against its threshold as you log flights, but you are solely responsible for meeting the requirement.
What is R-ATP and how many hours?
The Restricted-ATP (R-ATP) under 14 CFR §61.160 lets qualifying pilots earn an ATP certificate with fewer than 1,500 hours: 750 hours for eligible military pilots, 1,000 hours with a qualifying four-year aviation degree, and 1,250 hours with a qualifying two-year aviation degree, subject to the rule's conditions. AeroCopilot measures your total time against the threshold for your pathway so you know your earliest eligibility — confirm your specific qualification with the reg.
How many hours for a commercial certificate?
A commercial pilot certificate for airplanes requires 250 hours of aeronautical experience under 14 CFR §61.129, including specific cross-country, night, and PIC sub-requirements. It is the milestone most airline-bound pilots clear on the way to 1,500. AeroCopilot tracks the §61.129 buckets in parallel with your ATP progress so you can see both certificates approaching.
Can I export my logbook to an airline application?
Yes. AeroCopilot produces airline-ready 8710-1 category totals — total time, PIC, cross-country, night, instrument, multi-engine — as clean CSV and PDF exports you can attach to an application packet or upload to a recruiter portal. The logbook is compliant with 14 CFR §61.51. You remain responsible for verifying the totals before you submit.