AeroCopilotHelp Center

Pilot Currency Tracking (§61.57)

How AeroCopilot tracks day, night, IFR, tailwheel, SFAR 73, and SFAR 194 currency in real time from your signed logbook entries.

Pilot-in-Command Verification. Currency tracking in AeroCopilot is computed from your signed logbook entries and is for your operational reference only. Under 14 CFR §61.3 and §61.51, the pilot-in-command remains responsible for verifying their own certificate, medical, and flight experience requirements before each flight. AeroCopilot does not certify, verify, or endorse pilot certificates or currency status to the FAA, an examiner, or any third party.

Pilot Currency Tracking (§61.57)

AeroCopilot computes currency live off the same logbook entries you would show an inspector. Nothing is invented and nothing is cached past the next entry — when you sign a flight, every applicable bucket recalculates against 14 CFR §61.57 and the relevant SFARs. The /compliance/currency page is the consolidated read; the AI tool getPilotCurrency exposes the same numbers in chat.

What we track

The following currency types are derived from your signed logbook:

  • Day passenger currency — §61.57(a): 3 takeoffs and 3 landings in the preceding 90 days, in the same category, class, and (if a type rating is required) type.
  • Night passenger currency — §61.57(b): 3 takeoffs and 3 landings to a full stop during the period one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise.
  • Instrument currency — §61.57(c): within the preceding 6 calendar months, 6 instrument approaches plus holding procedures and tasks plus intercepting and tracking courses through navigation electronic systems.
  • IPC — §61.57(d): Instrument Proficiency Check recorded as a CurrencyRecord of type IFR_6MO. The recordIpcFromLogbookAction button on the IPC tile auto-derives the IPC from a qualifying logbook session (6 approaches + holding + intercept in 6 months).
  • Tailwheel currency: hidden on aircraft cards when the selected aircraft is not tailwheel — an R44, for example, will not surface tailwheel buckets.
  • SFAR 73 currency (R22 / R44): 24-month recurrence; missing or expired SFAR 73 adds +25 to your aircraft risk score.
  • SFAR 194 currency (powered-lift): 3 takeoffs and 3 landings in the preceding 90 days in a powered-lift category aircraft. Computed live from logbookEntry rows by lib/compliance/sfar194-currency.ts — never cached, never persisted as a synthetic record. The reference comment in that file is explicit: when Part 61 Subpart J replaces SFAR 194 (NPRM 2026, final ~2027) the count semantics carry over unchanged.
  • HUET (helicopter offshore): 24-month HUET currency tracked as CurrencyRecord.currencyType='HUET_24MO' with regulatory background pinned to 14 CFR 135.209, HCA-RP §6, and IOGP RP 410.

How signing protects the count

PIC verification. The PIC remains responsible for certificate and logbook integrity at all times. Currency math is a derived view of signed entries — it is not a substitute for the PIC's direct duties under 14 CFR §61.3(a) and §61.51(a)(1).

A logbook entry only counts toward §61.57 once it is signed. This is the §61.59 falsification defense:

  • Auto-detected entries (Auto-track Flight, MyFlightbook OAuth import, GPS-derived drafts) land in the draft state and are excluded from currency math.
  • A wet-click sign records signedAt and signedByUserId. The flight then advances the right bucket — Day, Night, IFR — based on what the entry actually contains.
  • Once signed, edits create amendment records rather than overwriting the original. Inspectors can read the chain.

The QuickLogModal on /logbook exposes a Day / Night toggle so a late-arrival flight advances §61.57(b) instead of §61.57(a). The default is Day.

Calendar-month math

Currency math is unforgiving on month boundaries. lib/aviation/calendar-month-math.ts pins §61.56 (flight review), §61.58 (PIC proficiency), §61.57(c) (instrument), §61.55(b)(2) (second-in-command), and §61.23(d) (medical) calendar arithmetic across leap-year boundaries with 11 vitest cases. If you fly at 23:50 local on the last day of a calendar month, the bucket rolls correctly.

Where it surfaces

  • /compliance/currency — full dashboard with countdown badges per bucket.
  • /dashboard Compliance Status Widget — Medical, BFR, IPC, 90-day at a glance.
  • AI chat — getPilotCurrency returns the same structured data, source-attributed to your logbook.
  • Pre-flight briefing — Compliance section blocks GO authority if a required currency type is expired for the planned operation.