New Guy; Dumb Question

wilkersk

wilkersk

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Is there a list or wiki somewhere that explains in plain old " 'merican" all of the airman ratings?

I get a bit confused reading Part 61 and I'm not sure what MEI is or what ASME means.

I know, I'm ashamed that I'm not up on all this. But, in the 25 years I've been a private pilot, flying rent-a-wrecks in fair weather, it never crossed my mind to find all this out. Now, that I can afford to quit working and play at becoming a CFI (and maybe even a CFII), I need ta know this stuff!
 
Read these boards, you will find out all the acronym definitions you need. Also if you are going for your CFI you will need this information. But you will also gain it all when you start getting more ratings.
 
wilkersk said:
Is there a list or wiki somewhere that explains in plain old " 'merican" all of the airman ratings?

I get a bit confused reading Part 61 and I'm not sure what MEI is or what ASME means.

I know, I'm ashamed that I'm not up on all this. But, in the 25 years I've been a private pilot, flying rent-a-wrecks in fair weather, it never crossed my mind to find all this out. Now, that I can afford to quit working and play at becoming a CFI (and maybe even a CFII), I need ta know this stuff!
Click to expand...
Yup. Try Wiki... :D
 
wilkersk said:
Is there a list or wiki somewhere that explains in plain old " 'merican" all of the airman ratings?

I get a bit confused reading Part 61 and I'm not sure what MEI is or what ASME means.

I know, I'm ashamed that I'm not up on all this. But, in the 25 years I've been a private pilot, flying rent-a-wrecks in fair weather, it never crossed my mind to find all this out. Now, that I can afford to quit working and play at becoming a CFI (and maybe even a CFII), I need ta know this stuff!
Click to expand...

MEI- multi engine instructor.
ASME- American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Or see Part 1 with all the definitions and abbreviations.http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-id...ue&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title14/14cfr1_main_02.tpl
 
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warthog1984 said:
MEI- multi engine instructor.
ASME- American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Click to expand...
?? ASME I always thought was Airplane Single and Multi Engine..

Anyway, I thought the OP wanted an explanation on ratings, not acronyms. Maybe not..??
 
Why don't you stick you nose in the FAA regulations, part 1 chapter 1 and 2, definitions and abbreviations?
You don't have to know all of them but you should know the ones you'll run into on a daily basis as a CFI.
 
Kritchlow said:
?
Anyway, I thought the OP wanted an explanation on ratings, not acronyms. Maybe not..??
Click to expand...

OK, here's how it goes.

The first thing you have is a CERTIFICATE.

The common one is the Pilot Certificate. This comes in different flavors:
Sport, Student, Recreational, Private, Commercial, and Airline Transport Pilot.
You'll usually see the latter abbreviated PP, CP, and ATP

On that certificate you can have various RATINGS. The major ones are for category and class: Single Engine Land (SEL), MultiEngine Land (MEL), Single Engine Sea ...
There is also "type ratings" for larger and turbojet aircraft.

None of the abbreviations are really official but people will make things like PP-ASEL (Private Pilot Certificate with Airplane, Single Engine Land rating), PP-ASMEL (Private Pilot with Airplane, Single Engine Land and Airplane Multiengine Land).

There is also the instrument rating for a couple of category (Aircraft, Rotorcraft).

Another certificate is the FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR. This has category ratings as well (Single Engine, Multiengine). It also has an Instrument rating. You will often see goofy acronyms which really aren't certificates but descriptions of the capabilities of the instructor: MEI (multiengine instructor, which means he has an instructor certificate with multiengine class rating) or CFI-I (which means he has an instrument rating on his instructor certificate). They aren't really independent certificates though people often talk like they are.

There's also certificates for things like ground instructors, flight engineers, dispatchers, and even air traffic controller (who essentially accumulate facility certifications like ratings).
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Near as I can tell, CFI does not appear anywhere in the regulations.

Neither does BFR.

I have presented at an ASME conference, but am not a member.
Click to expand...

This! Thanks!

I've seen people post acronyms like MEI or ASME in reference to pilot ratings. I thought MEI was Instructor Airplane Multiengine. And, having a dad who was an engineer, I was pretty sure ASME had to do with engineering and not pilot ratings. But, was confused.
 
flyingron said:
OK, here's how it goes.

The first thing you have is a CERTIFICATE.

The common one is the Pilot Certificate. This comes in different flavors:
Sport, Student, Recreational, Private, Commercial, and Airline Transport Pilot.
You'll usually see the latter abbreviated PP, CP, and ATP

On that certificate you can have various RATINGS. The major ones are for category and class: Single Engine Land (SEL), MultiEngine Land (MEL), Single Engine Sea ...
There is also "type ratings" for larger and turbojet aircraft.

None of the abbreviations are really official but people will make things like PP-ASEL (Private Pilot Certificate with Airplane, Single Engine Land rating), PP-ASMEL (Private Pilot with Airplane, Single Engine Land and Airplane Multiengine Land).

There is also the instrument rating for a couple of category (Aircraft, Rotorcraft).

Another certificate is the FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR. This has category ratings as well (Single Engine, Multiengine). It also has an Instrument rating. You will often see goofy acronyms which really aren't certificates but descriptions of the capabilities of the instructor: MEI (multiengine instructor, which means he has an instructor certificate with multiengine class rating) or CFI-I (which means he has an instrument rating on his instructor certificate). They aren't really independent certificates though people often talk like they are.

There's also certificates for things like ground instructors, flight engineers, dispatchers, and even air traffic controller (who essentially accumulate facility certifications like ratings).
Click to expand...
Did you mean to quote me?
 
MEI = More Expenses Incurred
ASME = Another Self-serving Massive Entity
CFI = Constant Flight Interruptions

Actually, are you confusing ASEL/AMEL with ASME?
 
asicer said:
MEI = More Expenses Incurred
ASME = Another Self-serving Massive Entity
CFI = Constant Flight Interruptions

Actually, are you confusing ASEL/AMEL with ASME?
Click to expand...
We used to use ASMEL as an acronym. I assumed that if referring to both land and sea, for example a CFI certificate, one would use ASME.
That said, I had no clue the acronyms were rigidly formalized!!
 
Although there are no official abbreviations, most people seem to follow the conventions FlyingRon mentions:

PP-ASEL
PP-AMEL
CP-ASMEL
ATP-AMEL
etc.

These are more or less simply an abbreviation of what's on the pilot certificate, so they're usually easy to figure out.

The typical CFI abbreviations usually aren't even close to what it says on the certificate, especially since the "C" is in itself both redundant and not on the certificate:

CFI - generally means someone who is a Flight Instructor - Airplane Single Engine with no additional ratings. Or, it's a generic term for Flight Instructor of course.
CFI-I - means Flight Instructor - Instrument Airplane
MEI - means Flight Instructor - Airplane Multi-engine

The "proper" abbreviations for these would be FI-ASE, FI-IA, FI-AME. But, inertia being what it is, that would actually just confuse more people.

I find it humorous when I see a CFI use the abbreviation "CFI-ASE". To me that looks like "I'm making an abnormal effort to be correct/pedantic by saying ASE." But then, by putting the "C" in front of FI, they are just being a different kind of "wrong"!

I occasionally see CFIs advertising themselves as "CFI, CFII, MEI, MEII". MEII? Obviously they're trying to point out that they can do multiengine instrument training, but there's actually no separate "Multi Engine Instructor - Instrument" rating for that.

Sometimes you get somebody using a really oddball abbreviation, and you just do your best to figure it out.
 
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I have a CFI with ASE and AME category and classes. There is no "L" or "S" on CFI certificates... At least there wasn't back in the day. I sort of took the lead from my instructors, albeit in the 1980's, and combined ASE and AME into ASME.
It always worked for me...
 
RussR said:
Although there are no official abbreviations, most people seem to follow the conventions FlyingRon mentions:

PP-ASEL
PP-AMEL
CP-ASMEL
ATP-AMEL
etc.

These are more or less simply an abbreviation of what's on the pilot certificate, so they're usually easy to figure out.

The typical CFI abbreviations usually aren't even close to what it says on the certificate, especially since the "C" is in itself both redundant and not on the certificate:

CFI - generally means someone who is a Flight Instructor - Airplane Single Engine with no additional ratings. Or, it's a generic term for Flight Instructor of course.
CFI-I - means Flight Instructor - Instrument Airplane
MEI - means Flight Instructor - Airplane Multi-engine

The "proper" abbreviations for these would be FI-ASE, FI-IA, FI-AME. But, inertia being what it is, that would actually just confuse more people.

I find it humorous when I see a CFI use the abbreviation "CFI-ASE". To me that looks like "I'm making an abnormal effort to be correct/pedantic by saying ASE." But then, by putting the "C" in front of FI, they are just being a different kind of "wrong"!

I occasionally see CFIs advertising themselves as "CFI, CFII, MEI, MEII". MEII? Obviously they're trying to point out that they can do multiengine instrument training, but there's actually no separate "Multi Engine Instructor - Instrument" rating for that.

Sometimes you get somebody using a really oddball abbreviation, and you just do your best to figure it out.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Great post!
 
RussR said:
Although there are no official abbreviations, most people seem to follow the conventions FlyingRon mentions:

PP-ASEL
PP-AMEL
CP-ASMEL
ATP-AMEL
etc.

These are more or less simply an abbreviation of what's on the pilot certificate, so they're usually easy to figure out.

The typical CFI abbreviations usually aren't even close to what it says on the certificate, especially since the "C" is in itself both redundant and not on the certificate:

CFI - generally means someone who is a Flight Instructor - Airplane Single Engine with no additional ratings. Or, it's a generic term for Flight Instructor of course.
CFI-I - means Flight Instructor - Instrument Airplane
MEI - means Flight Instructor - Airplane Multi-engine

The "proper" abbreviations for these would be FI-ASE, FI-IA, FI-AME. But, inertia being what it is, that would actually just confuse more people.

I find it humorous when I see a CFI use the abbreviation "CFI-ASE". To me that looks like "I'm making an abnormal effort to be correct/pedantic by saying ASE." But then, by putting the "C" in front of FI, they are just being a different kind of "wrong"!

I occasionally see CFIs advertising themselves as "CFI, CFII, MEI, MEII". MEII? Obviously they're trying to point out that they can do multiengine instrument training, but there's actually no separate "Multi Engine Instructor - Instrument" rating for that.

Sometimes you get somebody using a really oddball abbreviation, and you just do your best to figure it out.
Click to expand...

More or less what he said.

I've always spelled it out on my resume, ie
Airline Transport Pilot Multi Engine Land, etc.

The common ones you'll see are
SES, single engine sea
SEL, single engine land
MEL, multi engine land (also stands for minumum equipment list)
PPL, private pilots license
CPL, Commerical pilots license.
ATP or ATPL, airline transport pilot license.

Some folks will toss a R before or after the above, indicating rotor, helicopter.
 
James331 said:
More or less what he said.

I've always spelled it out on my resume, ie
Airline Transport Pilot Multi Engine Land, etc.

The common ones you'll see are
SES, single engine sea
SEL, single engine land
MEL, multi engine land (also stands for minumum equipment list)
PPL, private pilots license
CPL, Commerical pilots license.
ATP or ATPL, airline transport pilot license.

Some folks will toss a R before or after the above, indicating rotor, helicopter.
Click to expand...
Right... Or an A for airplane.
Right again... I spell it out for resumes.

I'm not sure any of this is super standardized... I look at it as a bunch of Internet acronyms. I've seen people use hyphens, spaces, "&" symbols, and so on.
I will sleep just fine no matter how anyone opts to abbreviate their ratings.
 
RussR said:
....Sometimes you get somebody using a really oddball abbreviation, and you just do your best to figure it out.
Click to expand...

Not sure if these are 'oddball', pretty sure everybody has used these at least once:

HSIAP - Holy Sht I'm A Pilot!
VFRPIDH - VFR Pilot In Da Hayouuse
OMGWMMLC - Oh My God Where's My Metal Landing Calculator?
 
All of those certficate and rating abbreviations are pilot slang or jargon, not regulations.

If you are a CFI and even if not, if you want to get a list of certificates and ratings, try FAR 61.5, which has the obtuse and confusing ;) title,  "Certificates and ratings issued under this part."
 
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