The United States Federal Aviation Administration has yet to adopt concrete regulations for manned commercial spaceflight. At issue from many spaceflight companies and organizations is pilot certification. The major concern seems to be from missile-like and non-winged spacecraft concepts where many groups feel that pilots should not have to meet the FAA’s proposal of having any type of pilot rating. These objections come despite several precedents set by the Soviet, American, and Chinese space programs, in which experienced pilots have been the onboard controllers of the crafts. The proposed spacecrafts will also be subject to the same airspace and aeronautical regulations (in the atmosphere) as well as similar control and instrumentation to conventional aircraft. However, I do agree that these types of spacecraft have inherent differences from other aircraft types that cannot be suitably addressed by existing aircraft category ratings. In order to address this while recognizing these differences, I propose recognizing a new category of aircraft to be called the Manned Guided Missile category. The pilot ratings for said category would be structured differently from conventional categories such as fixed wing.
There would be only two prerequisites for a Manned Guided Missile category pilot certificate. One of these would be a modified instrument rating requiring no aeronautical experience or alternately an instrument rating in another category already achieved by the trainee. This modified rating could be a comprehensive ground school or self study in airspace procedure, radio procedure, and common flight instruments and avionics procedure followed by a written test. The second prerequisite would be appropriate medical certification for spaceflight, most likely an Airman Medical Certificate First Class.
After satisfactorily meeting these prerequisites, the trainee would be subject to a vehicle specific training program produced by the manufacturer of the vehicle and approved by the FAA. After completing this program, the trainee would be issued an unlimited, non-expiring certificate for Manned Guided Missile flight. This certificate and training could also include any special spaceflight requirements that the FAA may enact.
