FAA pilot currency: the 14 CFR 61.57 rules in plain words
Checked against the sources below on 29 October 2026. How these guides are written
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To carry anyone as pilot in command under FAA rules you need 3 takeoffs and 3 landings in the preceding 90 days in the same category, class and type (full stop in a tailwheel). To carry anyone at night you need 3 takeoffs and 3 full-stop landings in the preceding 90 days, flown between 1 hour after sunset and 1 hour before sunrise. To fly IFR you need 6 instrument approaches, holding, and intercepting and tracking within the 6 calendar months before the month of the flight. A flight review is due every 24 calendar months.
- Passengers (day)
- 3 takeoffs and 3 landings
- Preceding 90 days
- 61.57(a)
- Passengers (night)
- 3 takeoffs and 3 full-stop landings, sunset + 1 h to sunrise - 1 h
- Preceding 90 days
- 61.57(b)
- Instrument (IFR)
- 6 approaches, holding, intercepting and tracking
- 6 calendar months before the month of the flight
- 61.57(c)
- Lapsed IFR more than 6 months
- Instrument proficiency check (IPC)
- Only way back
- 61.57(d)
- Flight review
- 1 h flight + 1 h ground, endorsed
- Since the start of the 24th calendar month before this month
- 61.56(c)
Carrying passengers: 61.57(a)
The rule covers more than passengers. It applies to anyone acting as pilot in command "of an aircraft carrying persons or of an aircraft certificated for more than one pilot flight crewmember".
You need "at least three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days", as "the sole manipulator of the flight controls", in "an aircraft of the same category, class, and type (if a class or type rating is required)". In a tailwheel airplane the landings "must have been made to a full stop in an airplane with a tailwheel". A full flight simulator or flight training device approved for landings can count when it is used in an approved Part 142 course (61.57(a)(3)).
Carrying passengers at night: 61.57(b)
To carry anyone "during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise" you need, within the preceding 90 days, "at least three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop" flown in that same window, as sole manipulator, in the same category, class and type.
This window is narrower than night for logging. 14 CFR 1.1 defines night as "the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight". A landing 40 minutes after sunset is night time in your logbook but does not count toward night currency.
Instrument currency: 61.57(c) and (d)
"Within the 6 calendar months preceding the month of the flight" you must have performed and logged "Six instrument approaches", "Holding procedures and tasks" and "Intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigational electronic systems". A full flight simulator, flight training device or aviation training device can be used "in any combination" (61.57(c)(2)).
The window is calendar months, not 180 days: approaches flown on any day in April still count through 31 October. If you go more than six calendar months past that, 61.57(d) says you "may reestablish instrument currency only by completing an instrument proficiency check". Inside those six months you can still catch up with a safety pilot or in a device.
Flight review: 61.56
You may not act as pilot in command unless, "since the beginning of the 24th calendar month before the month in which that pilot acts as pilot in command", you have completed a flight review of at least 1 hour of flight and 1 hour of ground training, endorsed in your logbook. A proficiency check, a practical test for a certificate or rating, or a WINGS phase can stand in for it (61.56(d) and (e)). The review lasts to the end of the 24th month, not to the same day two years later.
Mistakes pilots make
- Counting dusk landings for night currency. Night currency starts 1 hour after sunset, later than logged night.
- Counting touch-and-goes at night. Night currency landings must be to a full stop.
- Treating IFR currency as 180 days. It runs by calendar month.
- Counting 6 approaches and forgetting holding and intercepting and tracking.
- Assuming currency in one type or class carries to another when a type or class rating is required.
What Off Chocks tracks
- Counts 61.57(a) by category, class and type, and only full-stop landings for tailwheel airplanes.
- Counts night currency in the exact sunset + 1 h to sunrise - 1 h window from each flight's airport times, with full-stop landings, while still logging night by civil twilight.
- Works out IFR currency by calendar month, including holding and tracking, and the six-month grace before an IPC is needed.
- Your flight review date is one you enter in Credentials; Off Chocks reminds you before it runs out but does not decide it for you.
Common questions
- Do I need a full stop for day passenger currency?
- Only in a tailwheel airplane. In a nosewheel airplane, touch-and-go landings count for 61.57(a). At night every landing must be to a full stop.
- Does night currency use civil twilight?
- No. Logging night uses civil twilight (14 CFR 1.1), but night passenger currency uses the period from 1 hour after sunset to 1 hour before sunrise (61.57(b)).
- How long is FAA instrument currency good for?
- Until the end of the sixth calendar month after the month of your last qualifying approaches, holding and tracking. After a further six calendar months without catching up, only an IPC restores it.
- When is my flight review due?
- By the end of the 24th calendar month after the month you completed it. A review in March 2025 lasts through 31 March 2027.
Sources
- 14 CFR 61.57 Recent flight experience: Pilot in command (eCFR, up to date as of 26 Oct 2026)
- 14 CFR 61.56 Flight review (eCFR)
- 14 CFR 1.1 General definitions: night (eCFR)
This is a plain-words summary to help you keep your own records, not legal advice. The regulation and your operator's procedures always take precedence.