The certificate most people mean by 'pilot'. Growth here is slow and steady, which makes it a good measure of whether students are actually converting.
Active in 2025
174,155
Change vs 2024
+2,143
Since 2015
+2%
History
2025174,155
2015 · 170,7182025 · 174,155
Last month
1,182 private pilots appeared in the August 2026 releasable file that were not in July 2026. That file covers 47% of active pilots, and newly opted-in airmen look identical to newly certificated ones, so this is an upper bound on issuance rather than a count of it.