For anyone interested in flying, this article will help you gain broader understanding of the categories, class and type of aircraft to fly. Maybe you want to fly an Airbus? Maybe you want to fly a balloon? If that’s your dream, who am I to judge? So allow me to list the aircrafts according to category, class, and type with respect to pilot certification.

Category:

• Airplane

• Rotorcraft

• Glider

• Lighter-than-air

• Powered-lift

Each category is broken down to classes like:

The following fall under the airplane category and these are the classes

• Single-engine land
• Single-engine sea
• Multi-engine land
• Multi-engine sea

Rotorcraft Category

• Helicopter
• Gyroplane

Lighter-than-air category

• Airship
• Balloon

Finally, the type designates the make and model such as:

• Hughes 500
• Boeing 777
• Airbus 330

The type is not listed for small airplanes

So next time when someone asks what do you want to fly? the response should go more like this “airplane, multi-engine land, Boeing 737”, or you can just say Boeing 737 but at least you understand to which class and category it belongs to. Perhaps, if you don’t want to fly an airplane, you’re response might be “airship”, you don’t have to say the category if it’s a casual conversation but again you’ll know to which category it falls under, and that’s what’s important, to be more knowledgeable about what you choose to fly in the future.