Pilot’s Qualifications

This type of training has not changed much since the beginning of the airline industry according to Dick Capon a retired captain and a security inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration in Miami.
The requirement for a private license is 40 hours. It has not been changed for over 40 years, he said. The requirement for a commercial pilot license remains at 200 hours, which was the same back in the 70s. Then you can fly for hire and get paid to do so.

The highest pilot rating is the ATP, which is also known as the Airline Transport Pilot rating. This license requires 1500 hours of flight time and an instrument rating, which enables one to fly on instruments in bad weather. This requirement used to be 1200 hours, and the Federal Aviation Administration upped it to 1500 around 10 years ago. During the 70s the same amount of licenses were require in order to become a pilot.
Differences on aircraft were very widely. The incorporation of technology into the 90s has brought massive changes to the industry. All the way from computers to programmed the flight plans to different methods of handling the different features of the aircraft.