PLT371: Aircraft Category and Class
What code PLT371 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Aircraft Category and Class before your checkride.
Recall regulations - Aircraft Category / Class
What this means for your checkride
The meaning of category and class depends on the context. For airman certification, ratings, privileges, and limitations, category is a broad classification of aircraft such as airplane, rotorcraft, glider, and lighter-than-air, while class is a grouping within a category having similar operating characteristics such as single engine, multiengine, land, and water. For aircraft certification, category instead means a grouping based on intended use or operating limitations such as normal, utility, and transport.
The same words mean different things for pilots versus for aircraft type certification, and tests check that a pilot applies the correct definition.
Category and class do not have one fixed meaning; the same term is defined differently for airmen than for aircraft.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.