PPL, CPL and ATPL: South Africa's pilot licences compared

South Africa has three aeroplane pilot licences, each built on the one before: the private pilot licence (PPL) to fly for yourself, the commercial pilot licence (CPL) to be paid to fly, and the airline transport pilot licence (ATPL) to command airliners. Before any of them you hold a student pilot licence. Helicopters have the same three licences with their own requirements.¹

The student pilot licence

You can get one from 15 with a valid medical certificate, once you're registered with an Approved Training Organisation (a flight school approved under Part 141).² It lets you fly solo, from the age of 16, for training towards a PPL, in an aircraft model endorsed in your logbook, without passengers, inside South Africa, by day and in good weather (visual meteorological conditions).²

Since an amendment on 21 August 2026 it's valid for 24 months, provided the annual currency fee is paid, and there's also an integrated student pilot licence for students on an approved integrated course.² The annual currency fee is R652.⁷

The private pilot licence (PPL)

What you need: to be 17, a valid medical, at least a restricted radiotelephony (radio) certificate, a student licence (or a pilot licence from another ICAO state, or a National Pilot Licence, held in the last 60 months), training at an Approved Training Organisation, the theory exams and a skills test.³ The flying is at least 45 hours in aeroplanes heavier than 450 kg: at least 25 hours with an instructor and 15 solo, including 5 hours of solo cross-country flying and a triangular cross-country of at least 150 nautical miles with full-stop landings at two other aerodromes. Up to 5 instructor hours can be in an approved simulator.³

Deadlines: all the theory exams within 18 months of passing the first, the last of them within 36 months before the skills test, and the skills test within 30 days of your last lesson with an instructor.⁸

What it lets you do: fly any aeroplane you hold the class or type rating for, by day in good weather, with passengers. You may fly in the course of your own or your employer's business when the flight is only incidental to it. You may not carry passengers or freight for reward, and you may not be paid to fly.⁹ A night rating adds flying at night.

Keeping it: the licence lasts 10 years, as long as you keep up the currency fees and paperwork and pass a revalidation check every 24 months.⁹ See how to keep your PPL valid.

The commercial pilot licence (CPL)

What you need: to be 18, a valid medical (Class 1), a general radiotelephony certificate, a PPL (or a pilot licence from another ICAO state, or a student licence on an integrated course), training at an Approved Training Organisation, the CPL theory exams, a skills test and a night rating.⁴⁶

The hours: at least 200 (or 150 on an approved integrated course), including:⁴

• 100 hours as pilot in command (70 on an integrated course);
• 20 hours of cross-country as pilot in command, including a flight of at least 300 nautical miles with full-stop landings at two other aerodromes;
• 5 hours at night as pilot in command, with 10 night take-offs and 10 landings and a three-leg night cross-country of at least 50 nautical miles a leg;
• 10 hours of instrument instruction (no more than 5 in a simulator);
• 5 hours of instruction in an aeroplane with flaps, retractable gear and a variable-pitch propeller, or a jet.

Up to 20 of the 200 hours can be instruction in an approved simulator.⁴ The skills test must come within 36 months of passing all the theory exams.¹⁰

What it lets you do: everything a PPL does, plus act as pilot in command of any aeroplane in operations other than carrying passengers or freight for reward, act as pilot in command in commercial air transport in aeroplanes certified for one pilot, act as co-pilot in commercial air transport in aeroplanes that need two pilots, and all of this by night.¹¹ The CPL also lasts 10 years, with an annual currency fee of R918 and a revalidation check within 12 months of issue and then every 24 months.⁷¹¹

The airline transport pilot licence (ATPL)

What you need: to be 21, a Class 1 medical, an instrument rating with a PPL or CPL (or an equivalent), training at an Approved Training Organisation, the ATPL theory exams and a skills test.⁵

The hours: at least 1 500 in aeroplanes, including 500 as pilot in command under supervision or 250 as pilot in command, 200 hours of cross-country, 75 hours of instrument time (no more than 30 in a simulator) and 100 hours at night. Some time in helicopters, simulators and light aircraft can count towards the total, within limits.⁵

Theory first is common: once you've passed the ATPL subjects you have 36 months to get an instrument rating, and the passes then stay valid for 60 months after your last instrument rating revalidation check lapses.¹²

What it lets you do: everything a PPL and CPL do, and act as pilot in command in commercial air transport. You must have passed a type-rating skills test or an ATPL revalidation check in the previous 12 months.¹³ The annual currency fee is R1 042.⁷

Integrated or modular?

You can train modular (PPL, then hour-building, then CPL, one step at a time) or on an integrated course: a single course approved by SACAA that takes you through to the CPL and instrument rating to a set syllabus.¹⁴ The integrated route counts for less total time (150 hours instead of 200 for the CPL).⁴ Ask a school which it's approved to run: how to choose a flight school shows how to check.

Ratings you add on top

• Night rating: flying at night; required for the CPL. How to get one.
• Instrument rating: flying in cloud and under instrument flight rules; required for the ATPL. How to get one.
• Class and type ratings: what you're allowed to fly, for example single-engine piston or a particular type.

SACAA charges R651 to issue each of these ratings.⁷

Microlights and light sport aircraft

These aren't flown on a Part 61 licence but on a National Pilot Licence under Part 62, with a Class 4 medical.⁶ See how to become a pilot for that route.