Tempest Ice Runner Type Rating

The Tempest Ice Runner Type Rating qualifies a pilot to fly the Tempest, Halcyon's 410-metre ice transport, in any of its three flight-deck seats. It is the only Halcyon type rating that includes a dedicated nuclear thermal propulsion module, because the Tempest refuels from its own cargo of water ice.

Requirements include a Commercial Pilot Licence (Orbital), 600 hours of multi-crew experience, 150 simulator hours, 120 flight hours and a check run in which the candidate's crew carries a laden hold from Saturn to a delivery point in the Asteroid Belt.

Lumen's Outer-System Ice Runner Rating, based at Enceladus Station, is the accredited route. The rating is revalidated every 12 months with a reactor emergency simulator session.

Ice consortia around Saturn and Europa require it for flight crew, and flight time gained under it counts towards the Deep-Space Command Endorsement.

Holders also receive a nuclear thermal operator qualification as part of the rating, which can be used on other nuclear thermal vessels with a short conversion. The rating is popular with pilots who prefer long, self-reliant voyages.