What are the FAA pilot currency requirements?
FAA pilot currency comes from 14 CFR §61.57 recency. To carry passengers you need 3 takeoffs and 3 landings within the preceding 90 days in the same category, class, and type; at night those 3 landings must be to a full stop. For IFR you need 6 instrument approaches plus holding and course intercepting/tracking within 6 calendar months. Separately, §61.56 requires a flight review every 24 calendar months to act as pilot in command at all.
"Currency" (also called recency of experience) is a set of rolling look-back windows. Unlike a certificate or rating, currency is never permanent — it decays with time and is refreshed by flying. Each privilege has its own rule, its own window, and its own way of resetting. The sections below break each one down, and the matrix near the end is a one-glance summary. None of this replaces §61.57 itself: the pilot in command is solely responsible for determining currency and the legality of a given flight.
Day passenger currency — §61.57(a)
Under §61.57(a), to act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers, you must have made 3 takeoffs and 3 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 type rating is required).
Key points that trip pilots up:
- The 90 days is a rollinglook-back, not a calendar quarter. Each takeoff/landing "expires" exactly 90 days after it was flown.
- The requirement only applies when carrying passengers. You can always fly solo to regain currency — you just cannot take anyone with you until the 3-and-3 are in the window.
- For day currency, touch-and-goes count: a takeoff and a landing is a takeoff and a landing. (Night is stricter — see below.)
- You must be the sole manipulator of the controls for the takeoffs and landings to count toward your own currency.
Each takeoff and landing must be logged in accordance with §61.51 so you can prove recency on request.
Night currency — §61.57(b)
Night passenger currency is a stricter overlay on §61.57(a). To carry passengers at night, §61.57(b) requires 3 takeoffs and 3 landings within the preceding 90 days where each landing is to a full stop, and those takeoffs and landings are flown during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise.
- Full-stop landings only. Touch-and-goes do not count for night currency — you must come to a complete stop each time.
- The night window is a §61.57(b) definition(1 hour after sunset to 1 hour before sunrise) — note this is a narrower window than the "night" used for logging night flight time (end of evening civil twilight to beginning of morning civil twilight, §1.1). Do not conflate the two.
- Same category, class, and type rule as day currency.
Because full-stop night landings satisfy the day requirement too, 3 full-stop landings in the night window make you current for both day and night passenger operations.
IFR currency, grace period, and the IPC — §61.57(c) & (d)
To act as pilot in command under IFR or in weather below VFR minimums, §61.57(c) requires that within the preceding 6 calendar months you have performed and logged, in the appropriate category of aircraft (or an approved simulator/ATD):
- Six instrument approaches;
- Holding procedures and tasks; and
- Intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigation systems.
The grace period. If you let those 6 calendar months lapse, you are not immediately grounded from all instrument flying: §61.57(c) gives you an additional 6 calendar months during which you may regain currency on your own by flying the required approaches, holding, and tracking (in actual or simulated conditions with a safety pilot). Only when both the currency window and the grace period have lapsed — a total of 12 calendar months without the required experience — must you complete an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) under §61.57(d) to regain instrument privileges. An IPC is administered by an examiner, an authorized instructor, or another authorized evaluator and covers the areas of operation in the instrument rating ACS.
This is the summary. For the full walkthrough — what counts as an approach, safety-pilot rules, simulator/ATD credit, and worked timeline examples — see our dedicated IFR currency requirements guide.
The flight review — §61.56
The flight review is often confused with currency, but it is a separate requirement. Under §61.56, no person may act as pilot in command of an aircraft unless, within the preceding 24 calendar months, they have completed a flight review and received a logbook endorsement from an authorized instructor.
- A flight review is a minimum of 1 hour of ground and 1 hour of flighttraining, reviewing §91 operating rules and maneuvers at the instructor's discretion.
- It is not a checkride and is not a pass/fail practical test — it is a training event. You either receive the endorsement or continue training until you do.
- Certain events substitute for a flight review — for example, passing a practical test (checkride) for a new certificate or rating, or completing a phase of an FAA-sponsored proficiency program (WINGS).
The flight review keeps your PIC privileges alive; currency keeps specific privileges (passengers, night, IFR) alive. You need both. See our flight review (BFR) guide for how to prepare.
Category, class, and type — currency is not transferable
Currency under §61.57 is tied to the specific category (e.g. airplane, rotorcraft), class (e.g. single-engine land, multi-engine land), and, where a type rating is required, type of aircraft. This has hard consequences:
- Three landings in an airplane do not make you current to carry passengers in a helicopter — different category.
- Currency in a single-engine airplane does not carry to a multi-engine airplane — different class.
- For type-rated aircraft, currency is tracked per type.
The IFR recency of §61.57(c) is tracked by category of aircraft (e.g. airplane vs. rotorcraft) rather than by class. If you fly more than one category or class, track each one separately — a single logbook total does not tell you whether you are current in the specific machine you are about to fly.
Currency rules matrix
A one-glance summary of the recency rules on this page. The regulation is always controlling — this table is an aid, not a substitute for reading §61.56 and §61.57.
| Requirement | Window | How it resets | Reg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day passenger — 3 takeoffs & 3 landings | Preceding 90 days | Fly 3 takeoffs/landings (same cat/class/type) | §61.57(a) |
| Night passenger — 3 takeoffs & 3 full-stop landings | Preceding 90 days (1 hr after sunset–1 hr before sunrise) | Fly 3 full-stop takeoffs/landings in the night window | §61.57(b) |
| IFR — 6 approaches, holding, intercept/track | Preceding 6 calendar months | Fly the tasks; 6-month grace, then IPC | §61.57(c)/(d) |
| Flight review (PIC privilege) | Preceding 24 calendar months | Complete review + endorsement (or substitute) | §61.56 |
How to prove — and track — your currency
Currency is only useful if you can demonstrate it. Under §61.51 you must log the flight time and recency experience used to meet these requirements, and be able to present those records to an FAA inspector, examiner, or authorized instructor on request. In practice that means keeping every takeoff, landing, approach, and endorsement in a logbook you trust.
AeroCopilot computes each of these windows for you from your logged flights. The currency proof tool shows, at a glance, whether you are current for day passengers, night passengers, and IFR — with the exact date each requirement lapses — and the electronic logbook keeps the underlying entries organized and §61.51-compliant. If you already keep records in MyFlightbook, AeroCopilot supports a one-way import so you do not have to re-enter your history.
These tools are decision support, not a legal determination. The pilot in command remains solely responsible for determining currency and the legality of every flight under §61.57.