type qualifications ...

[gas_man]

sorry to ask the most basic of basic questions ...but here i go.

when you are a professional pilot ....what does this thing "type rating" mean? do you say , eg, that you are qualified on B737 .....is the 737 then your type? what about the derivatives of the 737 ..can you hop into any of them and fly ? and finally , is it common for pilots to be qualified on widely different aircraft such as a boeing 747 and airbus 320 ...to provide flexibility for the ops people?
sorry for the mundane question ..but got to start somewhere!

[TheMagus]

The question is not as basic as you may think. :)

The european version of ratings is similar to the US version.
Basically you have a class rating for single-engine land, multi-engine land, single-engine sea etc.

On top of that some aeroplane types are considered complex enough to warrant ratings of their own. Mostly this is aeroplane types that require 2 or more pilots but there are some single-pilot aeroplanes that also require type ratings.

In most cases a type rating on one type will allow the pilot to fly all versions of the type but for some types the versions differ enough to require differences training to switch between the versions.

In other cases 2 different types may be similar enough to allow a pilot rated on one to fly the other type. One example is A330 and A340. At least some airlines have approval to allow a pilot rated on the twin-engine A330 to also fly the 4-engine A340.
I don't know if it is the same everywhere but in many places a pilot rated on the B757 may also fly the B767.

I don't know what the regulations say in the US but in Europe, if you hold more than one type rating you have to do proficiency checks in all the types you hold a rating for.