What can a student pilot do?

As a student pilot, you may fly solo only after training and with an authorized instructor’s logbook endorsement from the past 90 days.¹² You may not act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying a passenger, or for compensation or hire.³ Flying solo at night, cross-country or in Class B airspace needs more training and endorsements, but sport pilot students can’t solo at night.¹⁴⁵⁶³

Limits on every student pilot

You need a student pilot certificate before you fly solo, but not to take lessons.⁷ To use its privileges, you must also meet the medical rules in 14 CFR 61.23.²⁸

A student pilot may not act as pilot in command of an aircraft:³

• That carries a passenger.³
• For compensation or hire, or carrying property for compensation or hire.³
• In furtherance of a business.³
• On an international flight, except listed solo training flights from Alaska to Yukon, Canada.³
• With flight or surface visibility under 3 statute miles by day, or 5 at night.³
• When the flight can’t be made with visual reference to the surface.³
• Against any limitation your instructor writes in your logbook.³

Nor can you be a required pilot on an aircraft needing more than one pilot, except in airship training with only required crew aboard.³ Training for a sport pilot certificate adds limits, including no flying as pilot in command at night.³

Solo and night solo

Solo means you’re the sole occupant of the aircraft.¹ Before your first solo, you need:

1. A pre-solo knowledge test. Your instructor gives it, on applicable rules in parts 61 and 91, your airport’s airspace and your aircraft’s characteristics and limitations.¹ They review every wrong answer with you before authorizing solo.¹
2. Pre-solo flight training. You log training on the maneuvers listed for your aircraft, which for an airplane include stalls and go-arounds.¹ An authorized instructor must judge your proficiency and safety in that make and model, or a similar one.¹
3. The solo endorsement. The instructor who trained you endorses your logbook for the specific make and model.¹ It stays current only if an authorized instructor updates your logbook every 90 days.¹

AC 61-65K, Appendix A, gives the FAA’s sample endorsement wording for each step.² For the FAA’s own knowledge test, see the guide to the FAA Private Pilot written test.

Night solo needs night training at your solo airport in takeoffs, approaches, landings and go-arounds, plus night navigation training nearby.¹ The instructor who gave that training endorses you for night solo in that make and model.¹ The training must be within the 90 days before the flight.¹²

Solo cross-country

Your solo endorsement doesn’t cover cross-country flights.⁷ Section 61.93 applies before a solo cross-country, a flight over 25 nautical miles from where it began, or a solo landing elsewhere.⁴

After cross-country ground and flight training, and showing an authorized instructor you’re proficient, you need three endorsements:⁴

• One for the category of aircraft, from the instructor who trained you.⁴
• One for the make and model.⁴
• One for each flight, after an instructor reviews your planning and finds you prepared to fly it safely under the known conditions.⁴ This one needn’t come from your usual instructor.²

Two exceptions have their own endorsements:⁴

• Practice takeoffs and landings at an airport within 25 nautical miles of where you train, after training there.⁴
• Repeated flights on one route to an airport within 50 nautical miles, after training on it, with a cross-country endorsement but none per flight.⁴

Class B airspace and Class B airports

To solo in Class B airspace, you need ground and flight training on that Class B area, with the flight training inside it.⁵ The instructor who gave the flight training endorses your logbook for that specific area, dated within 90 days of the flight.⁵ The same applies to solo flights to, from or at an airport inside Class B, with the training given at that airport.⁵

If you’re training for a sport or recreational pilot certificate, 14 CFR 61.94 applies instead.⁵⁶ It requires training and an endorsement to solo in Class B, C or D airspace or at any towered airport.⁶

Even with these endorsements, solo student pilot flights aren’t permitted at 12 listed airports, including Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles International.⁹¹⁰

StudyWren is an independent study tool and isn’t affiliated with the FAA or PSI.

Sources

1. 14 CFR 61.87, “Solo requirements for student pilots,” eCFR (current as of 2026-10-27). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-61.87 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

2. FAA, Advisory Circular 61-65K, “Certification: Pilots and Flight and Ground Instructors” (11/14/25; paragraphs 15.2, 20.1, 20.4 and 20.6; Appendix A, A.3 to A.16). https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_61-65K.pdf Accessed 2026-10-28. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. 14 CFR 61.89, “General limitations,” eCFR (current as of 2026-10-27). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-61.89 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

4. 14 CFR 61.93, “Solo cross-country flight requirements,” eCFR (current as of 2026-10-27). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-61.93 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

5. 14 CFR 61.95, “Operations in Class B airspace and at airports located within Class B airspace,” eCFR (current as of 2026-10-27). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-61.95 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. 14 CFR 61.94, “Student pilot seeking a sport pilot certificate or a recreational pilot certificate: Operations at airports within, and in airspace located within, Class B, C, and D airspace, or at airports with an operational control tower in other airspace,” eCFR (current as of 2026-10-27). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-61.94 ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. FAA, “Become a Pilot” (student pilot certificate questions; page last updated June 4, 2026). https://www.faa.gov/pilots/become/student_cert Accessed 2026-10-28. ↩ ↩²

8. 14 CFR 61.23, “Medical certificates: Requirement and duration,” eCFR (current as of 2026-10-27). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-61.23 ↩

9. 14 CFR 91.131(b), “Operations in Class B airspace,” eCFR (current as of 2026-10-27). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-91.131 ↩

10. 14 CFR part 91, Appendix D, Section 4, “Locations at which solo student, sport, and recreational pilot activity is not permitted,” eCFR (current as of 2026-10-27). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/part-91/appendix-Appendix%20D%20to%20Part%2091 ↩