FAR 61.55Second-in-Command Qualifications, Explained

What 61.55 requires to serve as SIC

To act as second-in-command of an aircraft type-certificated for more than one required pilot, 61.55(a) says you must hold:

• At least a private pilot certificate with the appropriate category and class rating;
• An instrument rating that applies to the aircraft, if the flight is under IFR; and
• At least a type rating for the aircraft — unless the flight is conducted as domestic flight operations within U.S. airspace.

That last point is why the "SIC Privileges Only" type rating exists, and why it matters for your logbook and your résumé.

The 12-month familiarization training

Under 61.55(b), within the previous 12 calendar months you must have:

1. Become familiar with the specific type, including:

• Operational procedures for the powerplant, equipment, and systems
• Performance specifications and limitations
• Normal, abnormal, and emergency operating procedures
• The flight manual
• Placards and markings

2. Performed and logged pilot time in the type (or in a flight simulator representing it), including:

• Three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop as the sole manipulator of the controls
• Engine-out procedures and maneuvering with an engine out while performing PIC duties
• Crew resource management (CRM) training

That's the real syllabus. It's not a weekend ground course — it's hands-on time in the airplane on engine-out work and full-stop landings.

The "SIC Privileges Only" type rating — no checkride

Here's the part most pilots don't realize. Under 61.55(d), once you complete that familiarization training in the type, you can receive an SIC type rating — and:

"There is no practical test required for the issuance of the 'SIC Privileges Only' pilot type rating." — 14 CFR 61.55(d)(7)

No checkride. The rating is issued on the strength of your training, a logbook endorsement, and an application. Specifically, 61.55(d) requires:

• Your instructor (or a qualified management official) signs your logbook/training record after each lesson;
• An endorsement stating you "[have] demonstrated the skill and knowledge required for the safe operation of the [type], relevant to the duties and responsibilities of a second in command;"
• A completed, signed FAA Form 8710-1 with the Instructor's Recommendation; and
• A personal appearance at a Flight Standards office or with an Examiner.

Complete the training, get the endorsement, file the 8710-1 — and the rating is added to your certificate.

Do you even need the 61.55(b) training?

Four categories of pilot are carved out by 61.55(f). The familiarization and flight training in paragraph (b) does not apply to a pilot who is:

• designated and qualified as pilot in command under subpart K of part 91, or part 121, 125, or 135, in that specific type of aircraft;
• designated as second in command under subpart K of part 91, or part 121, 125, or 135, in that specific type;
• designated as second in command for the purpose of receiving required flight training, with no passengers or cargo on board; or
• designated as a safety pilot for the purposes required by § 91.109.

In plain English: if you already fly that type inside a certificated or fractional operation, the operator's program covers you. Paragraph (b) is aimed at everyone else — most often the part 91 pilot flying an airplane that is type-certificated for more than one required pilot.

There is a narrower exception too. Under 61.55(g), a commercial or ATP certificate holder with the appropriate ratings does not have to meet the flight portion in (b)(2) when the flight is a ferry flight, an aircraft flight test, or an equipment evaluation flight — and no person or property is carried other than what's necessary to conduct the flight.

The limitation almost nobody reads

Here is the part that catches pilots mid-training. Under 61.55(h), while you are still working through the paragraph (b) requirements, you may act as second in command in that type only if:

• the flight is conducted under day VFR or day IFR; and
• no person or property is carried on board other than what's necessary for the conduct of the flight.

No passengers. No cargo. No night. Not until the requirements are complete. If you have been planning to build the three takeoffs and landings on a trip with someone in the back, that plan does not work.

Simulator or airplane — and the one thing a simulator can't finish

Paragraph (i) permits the training to be done in a flight simulator, provided the simulator is used under an approved training course at a training center certificated under part 142 (or under the other subparts the paragraph lists).

But paragraph (j) closes the loop: if all of your training was completed in a flight simulator, you must still satisfactorily complete one takeoff and one landing in an aircraft of the same type. The exception is for applicants completing a proficiency check under part 121 or a competency check under the regulations the paragraph specifies.

So an all-simulator path does not end in the simulator. At some point the airplane is involved.

"Within the previous 12 calendar months" — and the month on either side

Paragraph (b) runs on calendar months, not a rolling 365 days. Paragraph (c) then adds a grace window that pilots routinely overlook: if you complete the requirement in the calendar month before or the calendar month after the month in which it was due, you are treated as having completed it in the month it was due.

There are two routes to the rating, not one

Most write-ups only describe the familiarization route. There are two.

Route 1 — 61.55(d), familiarization training. You satisfy the paragraph (b) requirements within the 12 calendar months preceding your application, document them, and apply. This is the route covered above.

Route 2 — 61.55(e), an approved program. You complete an approved second-in-command training program, proficiency check, or competency check under subpart K of part 91, part 125, or part 135 within the 12 calendar months preceding your application.

The paperwork is nearly identical, with one practical difference worth knowing: under route 1 you present your records to a Flight Standards office or an Examiner. Under route 2 you may also present them to an Aircrew Program Designee.

The 61.55 SIC endorsement example — and why it is not in AC 61-65

This is the single most common dead end on this topic, so here is a straight answer.

AC 61-65K, dated November 14, 2025 — the current edition of the FAA advisory circular that collects sample endorsements, and the one that cancelled AC 61-65J — contains no sample endorsement for a 61.55 SIC type rating. Searching the full document for "61.55" returns nothing. Pilots and instructors go looking for an endorsement number in that AC and find nothing, because there isn't one.

The wording is not in the AC because it is written into the regulation itself. 61.55(d)(2) supplies the language the trainer endorses — that the applicant

"[Applicant's Name and Pilot Certificate Number] has demonstrated the skill and knowledge required for the safe operation of the [Type of Aircraft], relevant to the duties and responsibilities of a second in command."

So here is the endorsement, written out

Because the wording lives in the regulation rather than in an advisory circular, there is no official numbered sample to copy. What follows is 61.55(d)(2) laid out in the form it takes in a logbook, with the bracketed fields the regulation itself specifies.

[Applicant's Name and Pilot Certificate Number] has demonstrated the skill and
knowledge required for the safe operation of the [Type of Aircraft], relevant to
the duties and responsibilities of a second in command.

Filled in for a CE-500, it reads:

John A. Smith, Commercial Pilot Certificate No. 1234567, has demonstrated the
skill and knowledge required for the safe operation of the CE-500, relevant to
the duties and responsibilities of a second in command.

/s/ ______________________________   Date: __________
    [Printed name of the trainer or qualified management official]
    [Title, if signing as a qualified management official]

What the regulation actually requires — and what it doesn't

• The bracketed text is prescribed. The applicant's name and pilot certificate number belong inside the endorsement, not just on the form. The aircraft type goes in by its FAA type designation — CE-500.
• The signer does not have to be your flight instructor. Under 61.55(d)(1), the person who provided the training signs, or a qualified management official within that organization may sign in their place: Chief Pilot, Director of Training, Director of Operations, or a comparable management position, provided that person can verify the records and that the training was given.
• No CFI certificate number or expiration date is required by the rule. Most sample endorsements in AC 61-65K carry a "CFI # ___ Exp. ___" line because they are instructor endorsements written under other sections. 61.55(d)(2) prescribes the sentence and nothing more. Adding the signer's certificate number does no harm, and some Flight Standards offices prefer it, but it is not what the regulation asks for.
• The signature line and the date are convention, not regulation. 61.55(d)(2) does not specify a format for either. They are included here because an undated, unsigned entry is of no use to the Examiner who has to accept it.

One caution worth stating plainly: because the FAA publishes no sample for this endorsement, individual Flight Standards offices and Examiners have their own preferences about layout and supporting detail. The language above is the regulation's own. Confirm the presentation with the office or Examiner who will process your application before you sit down to write it.

The endorsement is one piece of a set. 61.55(d) also requires that your trainer — or a qualified management official such as a Chief Pilot, Director of Training, or Director of Operations — sign your logbook or training record after each lesson in accordance with § 61.51(h)(2); that you complete and sign FAA Form 8710-1; that the trainer sign the Instructor's Recommendation section of that form; and that you appear in person at a Flight Standards office or before an Examiner.

And then, under 61.55(d)(7), no practical test is required.

Where our course fits

This is exactly what we do. The CE-500 SIC Type Rating course takes you through every 61.55(b) requirement — systems, limitations, emergency procedures, engine-out work, full-stop landings, and CRM — in a real Cessna Citation, not a simulator, based in Florida (North Perry Airport, KHWO).

You finish with:

• Real turbine time in your logbook
• The 61.55(d) endorsement
• Your CE-500 "SIC Privileges Only" type rating — no checkride, exactly as the regulation provides

All-inclusive: $5,000.