SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/comm-complex-endorse

How often is the training and logbook endorsement for flying a complex airplane required?

Once: a one-time logbook endorsement.

Start playing free

  1. Once, as a one-time logbook endorsement ✔
  2. Every 12 calendar months
  3. With every flight review

Why: To act as pilot in command of a complex airplane you need ground and flight training from an authorized instructor and a one-time logbook endorsement. Pilots who logged PIC time in a complex airplane before August 4, 1997 are exempt.

Huh, didn't know that: The same one-time rule applies to high-performance airplanes.

The dad joke
What do you call the movie where pilots fight to take off? The Hangar Games.
Like this card?
Play the game

References

Answer: Once, as a one-time logbook endorsement. To act as pilot in command of a complex airplane you need ground and flight training from an authorized instructor and a one-time logbook endorsement. Pilots who logged PIC time in a complex airplane before August 4, 1997 are exempt.

  1. 14 CFR 61.31 Type rating requirements, additional training, and authorization requirements (Cornell LII eCFR mirror) www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/61.31
    Received a one-time endorsement in the pilot's logbook
    Checked 2026-10-10.

Think this answer is wrong? Tap "Challenge this answer" on the card in the game and tell us why.

Test yourself in the game

FlyingHow many hours of training in a complex, turbine or technically advanced airplane does a single-engine applicant need?FlyingWhat must you have before acting as pilot in command of a tailwheel airplane?FlyingBefore the commercial knowledge test you need a logbook endorsement from whom?

That's stuff everyone should know.