What can't I drive with a class A CDL?

Answer 1

Well, it's more a matter of what your experience and endorsements allow. If you're fresh out of truck driving school with a Class A, you're qualified to run a 21 axle lowboy combinaton, as far as the FMCSA is concerned.... however, apply for such a job with no experience, and you'll be laughed out of every place you apply to.

As for endorsements, you need a hazmat endorsement to haul anything requiring hazmat placards to be displayed. In the case of radioactive materials, an annual certification is required on top of this.

You can't operate a bus designed to transport more than 15 persons (including the driver) without a passenger endorsement. You can get a passenger endorsement with a Class A, but you can only operate passenger vehicles appropriate to the license requirement of the vehicle you road tested in. So, if you do your passenger road test in a little F450 shuttle, you'll be restricted to passenger vehicles requiring a Class C license. If you do your passenger road test in a vehicle requiring a Class B CDL, you'll be restricted to passenger vehicles requiring a Class B or Class C CDL.... I really can only think of one example of a passenger vehicle requiring a Class A CDL, since articulated buses are considered single vehicles, and only require a Class B.... when you go through Army Basic Training, you're often shuttled around in "cattle cars"... passenger trailers pulled by a Class 6/7 power unit. Since the operators of those are civilians (either DoD employees or contractors), they don't fall under the exemption to CDL requirements for the military (which is applicable only to military personnel). They would need a Class A with a passenger endorsement.

Tankers... you need a tanker endorsement to operate any vehicle requiring a CDL which has a permanently mounted tank, or which is transporting a portable tank of 1000 gallons capacity or more. That same 100 gallon fuel tank mounted in a pickup to fuel up machinery without a CDL or endorsements requires a tanker endorsement when it's mounted to a vehicle requiring a CDL.