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Pilot Currency Checker

Enter your takeoffs, landings, instrument tasks and flight reviews to see which currencies still hold under U.S. rules and the last day each one runs. Each rule gets its own result, with the days left and what is still needed.

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The pilot currency checker works through the U.S. rules for carrying passengers, night flying, instrument flying and flight reviews, in 14 CFR 61.57 and 61.56. Enter the planned flight date, the aircraft, then your landings, instrument tasks and flight reviews. For each rule the result shows whether you are current, the last day, the days left and what is still needed.

It applies U.S. rules only, and it does not apply the exceptions in 14 CFR 61.57(e) and 61.56(d) through (g). The output is not an official determination of your currency. Check the quoted rule text and your own logbook before you fly. Each result also shows the quoted paragraph of the rule, folded away until you open it, together with the date the text was read from eCFR.

Pilot currency checker example

How to use the pilot currency checker

  1. Enter the planned flight date.
  2. Choose the aircraft label, its category, class and type, such as SEL for single-engine land. Then set tailwheel to yes or no.
  3. Add a takeoff and landing line for each entry: the date, the number of landings, whether they were at night, whether they were full stop, tailwheel and the label.
  4. Add instrument tasks with the date and the number of approaches, holding procedures, and intercepting and tracking tasks.
  5. Add flight reviews or checks with their dates.
  6. Read each result: current or not current, the last day, the days left, and what is still needed. Expand the quoted rule text to check the wording.

The Load an example button fills in a sample flight planned for 25 October 2026. Entries dated after the planned flight are ignored.

Leave the category label of a line empty to use the aircraft label above. A line with another label, for example a multi-engine airplane when you plan to fly a single-engine one, is left out of the count and the result says how many lines were left out. Tick the night box only for landings made in the 61.57(b) night period, and tick full stop only for landings that ended in a full stop. Reload the page to clear everything, since the tool does not keep your lines.

How many landings do I need to carry passengers?

Under 14 CFR 61.57(a)(1), you need at least three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days to act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying people. You must be the sole manipulator of the controls, in the same category, class and type.

For a tailwheel airplane, the takeoffs and landings must be to a full stop in a tailwheel airplane. In the example, one day landing on 12 September and two night landings on 1 October give three at 12 September, with the last day on 11 December 2026 and 47 days left.

What is the night currency rule, and how does it differ from the logging definition?

To carry passengers at night, 14 CFR 61.57(b) requires three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop during the night period, within the preceding 90 days, as sole manipulator in the same category, class and type. The night period starts one hour after sunset and ends one hour before sunrise.

For logging, night runs from the end of evening civil twilight to the beginning of morning civil twilight, as set out in 14 CFR 1.1 and the Air Almanac. A landing can therefore count as night in your logbook and still fall outside the currency period. The checker uses only the 61.57(b) period. In the example, two night landings on 1 October and one on 5 August give three at 5 August, with the last day on 3 November 2026 and 9 days left.

How do instrument currency and the six plus six calendar months work?

To act as pilot in command under IFR or in weather below VFR minimums, 14 CFR 61.57(c) requires six instrument approaches, holding procedures, and intercepting and tracking courses within the six calendar months before the month of the flight. Each item is counted by calendar month, not by day.

The checker counts tasks done in month m as current through the last day of month m+6. It then reads the 61.57(d) period as letting tasks regain currency until the end of month m+12. From the first day of month m+13, an instrument proficiency check is needed. The item that expires first sets the end date for all three items.

Tasks on 15 January 2026 keep you current through 31 July 2026. On 1 August 2026 you are not current, but the tasks can regain currency until 31 January 2027, and from 1 February 2027 an instrument proficiency check is needed. 14 CFR 61.57(d) says a person who has failed to meet the instrument experience requirements for more than six calendar months may reestablish currency only by an instrument proficiency check.

When is a flight review due?

A flight review is required before you act as pilot in command, under 14 CFR 61.56(c). You need one completed since the beginning of the 24th calendar month before the month of the flight, plus a logbook endorsement. A review done in month m keeps you current for flights through the last day of month m+24.

A review on any day of March 2026 is valid for flights through 31 March 2028, and a flight on 1 April 2028 is not covered.

How are the 90 days counted, and why are two dates shown?

The regulation does not say how to count the 90 days, so the checker shows two last dates. The stated reading gives an event on day E a last day of E plus 90. The conservative reading counts the event day as day one, so the last day is E plus 89.

Expiry is set by the third most recent takeoff and landing, counted newest first. Three takeoffs and landings on 1 August 2026 run to 30 October 2026 on the stated reading and 29 October on the conservative reading. On 31 October you are not current and need three more. Landings on 1 January 2028 give a last day of 31 March 2028, because 2028 is a leap year.

Sources

14 CFR 61.56 and 61.57, eCFR text as of 2026-10-20, read 2026-10-25. The definition of night used for logging, 14 CFR 1.1, eCFR text as of 2026-10-20, read 2026-10-25.

Questions from readers

Does the checker cover rules outside the United States?

No. It covers U.S. rules only, 14 CFR 61.56 and 61.57. It does not read EASA or other authority rules, so check the rules of the authority that applies to your flight.

Why does the result show two last dates?

The regulation does not say how to count the 90 days. The stated reading gives the later date and the conservative reading gives the date one day earlier. Plan to the earlier date.

Does the checker apply the exceptions in 61.57(e)?

No. It does not apply the exceptions in 61.57(e) or 61.56(d) to (g), so a result can show not current in a case where an exception would apply.

Do instrument tasks from earlier in the flight month count?

By default, yes. An option turns this off.

What is pilot currency?

It means meeting the recent flight experience rules in 14 CFR 61.57 (and the flight review in 61.56) for the flight you plan. The checker applies those rules to the dates you enter.

What happens if my currency expires?

If your passenger currency lapses, you cannot act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying persons until you make three takeoffs and three landings again. You can do that in day VFR or day IFR, with no persons or property on board other than what the flight needs. Instrument currency works differently. After 6 calendar months without the experience, you need an instrument proficiency check.

Does night landing experience count toward day currency?

Yes, for the passenger rule. Section 61.57(a) does not say the landings must be in daylight, so night takeoffs and landings can count toward its three-takeoffs-and-landings requirement. Night currency under 61.57(b) is a separate requirement. It needs three takeoffs and three full-stop landings between 1 hour after sunset and 1 hour before sunrise, within 90 days.

What is the 90-day passenger currency rule?

Carrying persons as pilot in command requires three takeoffs and three landings made inside the 90 days before the flight. You must be the sole manipulator of the controls, in the same category, class and type (if required). In a tailwheel airplane, the landings must be full-stop. The tool shows whether you are current or not current under each rule, with the last day you stay current and a conservative day. It is not an official determination.