Pilot Licensing and Certification - Brief History

Brief History

Pilot licensing began not too long after the invention of powered airplanes in 1903. Since early aviation largely developed in the United States and Europe (in particular France), the first of what were ancillary licenses appeared in those nations. In the U.S. the Aero Club of America was a gathering body used to discuss the different advancements in aviation. They were formed around 1905 as an offshoot of the American Automobile Association, which already existed. As aeroplanes became more popular after public flights by the Wright Brothers and others, more and more people were buying machines and taking to the skies. Since in those days most men built their own machines, they were usually the ones to test fly them and if an individual bought a machine from one of the several manufacturers, then that particular manufacturer had a school to teach the buyer how to fly his aeroplane. The first Aero Club of America certificates were not mandatory and were more for prestige and show. The qualifications for an Aero Club ticket was to ascend in the machine and fly a course of a figure-eight at a given height. Individual states sometimes posed a mandate for a license but it wasn't a Federal cause until 1917. The first persons to be awarded certificates by the Aero Club were men who had already flown and the bestowing was honorary:

1. Glenn Curtiss
2. Frank Purdy Lahm
3. Louis Paulhan
4. Orville Wright
5. Wilbur Wright

In Europe, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale or FAI was founded in 1905 and, like the Aero Club, was a prestigious aviation body. Certificates or ratings from them were not mandatory. Their criteria was pretty much the same as the Aero Club.