Please give a small explanation to each

Pilot licensing goes by category, class, & type. You can have single or multi-engine, land, or sea in the case of powered aircraft, & also have complex aircraft or specific type ratings. You can have free balloon ratings for hot air or helium. You can have rotorcraft ratings for helicopter or autogyro. You can have ground or flight instructor ratings. You start with a Private rating, add Instrument to it, then go for Commercial, & finally Air Transport Pilot. For all the gory details, go to a fixed base operator & get yourself a copy of

Student Pilot License:
If u can pass a medical, u can get this license. It allows u to fly alone, for purposes of flight training, after u receive an endorsement from a flight instructor.

Recreational Pilot License:
A license which has fewer requirement in order to get (therefore it is cheaper) but has fewer privileges than a Private Pilot License. Some of the limitations are: You may only carry one passenger with you, u may not fly at night, & u can only fly very small airplanes.

Private Pilot License:
This license gives u unrestricted (well, u still have to follow the FAR's!) flying privileges, with the exception that u can not make money for flying.

Commercial Pilot License:
Same as a Private, but now u can make money for flying. Note that there r only a few things that u can do on ur own however, & most of the time u have to be working for an FAA approved operator in order to charge money for flying.

Airline Transport Pilot (ATP)
A higher level of license than the Commercial, which is required to be the captain of a commercial aircraft which is carrying passengers.

Each of the licenses r category specific, meaning that u can be an ATP for multi-engine airplanes, but only have Private pilot privileges for single engine airplanes (like me!).

There r a lot of ratings in addition to the licenses. There is ur instrument rating which allows u to fly when u can not see the ground, ur multi-engine rating which allows u to fly airplanes with more than one engine, & lots of type ratings which allow u to fly specific types of airplanes which require specific training.

Until l saw the brilliant given below, all l had to say was:

* PPL = Private Pilot License

* CPL = Commercial Pilot License

* ATPL = Airline Transport Pilot License

l will leave you to evaluate all our /pick the best. l hope we all helped out in some way. Cheers.

Louis: Only students, sport pilots, and recreational pilots must have visual contact with the ground. Private pilots can fly above, but not through, a cloud layer. That does not mean it is a good idea, but it is legal. ( l am not the one that gave you the thumbs down though. You answer was great.)

There is only ONE pilot certificate in the US. Not counting student, recreational, or sport pilot, you start with the private pilot certificate and all the other things mentioned are ratings added to the same certificate.
The student pilot certificate is your medical card.
See FAR Part 61 for the details and limitations of each rating.