If you have decided to pursue getting your private pilot license here are the 5 main components of that the FAA deems to be the private pilot requirements. ?English competency ?Medical fitness ?A minimum Age of 17 ?General Aviation Knowledge ?Flight Competency Since English is the language agreed upon for communication at airports around the world, you must be able to speak, read and understand English fluently. Even if you have a good background in reading English make an effort at improving your spoken English skills if this is not your native language. The time when you will most need this skill is in an emergency and you definitely don't want to struggle with your language skills when you are already dealing with a difficult situation. You must also ensure that you get a medical certificate from a FAA authorized medical aviation examiner and be at least 17 years old to receive a private pilot license. There are slight variations in private pilot requirements between different countries. Mainly they concern the number of flight training hours required. You may obtain your general aviation knowledge by different means but the most common method is to attend ground school. This training culminates in the written private pilot exam. This is a multiple choice exam which is timed and in different sections. You do not need to pass all sections at once. If you are a slow reader, you should consider investing in test practice software which can time your test taking speed and present you with questions from the actual FAA question pool so they will already be familiar when you sit for the exam. The last one of the private pilot requirements is flight training. In the United States a minimum of 40 flight hours are required, 20 of which need to be with a FAA certified instructor.