Originally Posted by
PearlPilot
I am training under part 61 for my PPL right now, and I am expecting to do my instrument rating on the same part. The hours required to obtain a commercial under part 61 is 190 vs. 250 under 141. Is there any way to "get around" this and still be able to obtain a commercial in 190 or so if I did the instrument under 61? I am guilty of the "looking way ahead" syndrome as this is a very early time to be thinking about a commercial.
The 190 hours is actually a combination of the minimum required hours of the 141 PPL, IR, and CPL courses.
141 PPL = 35
141 IR = 35
141 CPL = 120
So if you do the PPL and/or IR under part 61, you will not be able to get a CPL at 190 hours.
61 PPL + 61 IR + 141 CPL = 40 + 40 + 120 = 200.
Also 61 IR requires 50 hours of XC, which would apply towards a 61 CPL, but NOT towards a 141 CPL. Since there is some XC overlap with other required training, so you could probably do the 61 IR for about 70 hours, so a total of about 230. That is only 20 hours less than doing it all part 61...my guess is going all 61 would be cheaper plus you end up with more total time.