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← Private Pilot Course

VFR Regulations

Pilot responsibilities, aircraft requirements, and VFR operating rules for U.S. private pilots.

Start first lesson →26 lessons · Knowledge checks & interactive exercises

Lesson groups

Start with the flight

Your responsibility as PIC

The final decision belongs to you.

Before you fly

Know the flight before you start it.

Airspace and separation

VFR weather minimums

Find the airspace, then place yourself around the cloud.

Special VFR

A special clearance is not a weather escape plan.

Minimum safe altitudes

Protect the people below and leave a landing option.

VFR cruising altitudes

Course selects the side; height above terrain triggers the rule.

Aircraft speed limits

Know which speed limit applies to your location.

Right-of-way

Give way early; being right does not prevent a collision.

Airport & airspace operating rules

Plan the taxi route, recognize surface cues, and keep every runway entry deliberate.

Prepare the airplane

Fuel requirements

Reserve fuel is protection, not planned holding time.

Required aircraft equipment

Match the equipment to this aircraft and this operation.

Inoperative equipment

Not required is only the first half of the decision.

Aircraft certificates & documents

Use certificates, limitations and maintenance records to decide whether this airplane is ready for this flight.

Equipment that changes the flight

ELT: readiness and batteries

A rescue transmitter needs a working installation and a current battery.

Aircraft lights

The light clock starts at sunset.

Supplemental oxygen

Use cabin pressure altitude, and watch the boundaries.

Transponder requirements

The veil and the shelf are different boundaries.

ADS-B Out and the transponder

Similar airspace, two separate requirements.

Are you legal to fly?

Pilot certificates & documents

The pilot and the airplane have separate paperwork.

Medical requirements & BasicMed

Medical eligibility and flight currency are different clocks.

Flight review

Count calendar months and keep the endorsement.

Passenger-carrying currency

Three landings are not always the same three landings.

Private pilot privileges & limitations

Sharing a trip is different from selling transportation.

Recent experience versus proficiency

Legal is the floor; proficiency is the decision.

Important endorsements & limitations

A rating does not cover every airplane feature.

Before you stretch the mission

Special operations & restrictions

Check today’s restriction, not yesterday’s map.

U.S. private-pilot airplane focus. CFR citations support each explanation. Numerical tools isolate one rule; they do not approve a flight. Learn the weather behind the numbers in the Weather curriculum.