Pilot Currency Calculator
Check your FAR Part 91 recent-experience currency. All entries are processed locally in your browser — no data is sent to any server.
This tool covers recent-experience currency requirements for airplane category pilots operating under FAR Part 91. It does not cover: sport pilot, glider, rotorcraft, balloon, powered-lift, or other category/class currency rules. It does not cover tailwheel, high-performance, complex, or high-altitude endorsement currency requirements. Pilots operating under FAR Part 135, 121, or 141 have additional or different requirements. Currency is not the same as proficiency.
Currency means you meet the minimum recent-experience requirements to exercise your privileges. It does not mean you are proficient. If you have any doubt about your proficiency, fly with a qualified instructor before carrying passengers or flying in challenging conditions.
Select one or more sections above to check your currency.
This tool provides planning information only. It is not a legal determination of your currency status. Consult the current FAR text and, if necessary, an aviation attorney or FAA representative for definitive guidance.
Endorsements, aircraft category/class/type ratings, operating rules, exceptions, and individual circumstances may change the answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pilot Currency in Depth
Currency is the set of recent-experience requirements that determine what flying you are legally allowed to do right now, as distinct from the ratings printed on your certificate, which never expire. A private pilot certificate stays valid for life, but the privileges it unlocks are gated behind rolling look-back windows: recent takeoffs and landings to carry passengers, a flight review every twenty-four calendar months, and instrument recency for flight in instrument conditions. This calculator tracks those windows so you always know the exact date a privilege lapses.
The reason currency deserves careful attention is that the rules use precise but easily confused time references. Some windows are measured in calendar months and some in preceding days, and the passenger-carrying rules distinguish day from night and tailwheel from tricycle-gear aircraft. Misreading any of these leads pilots to believe they are legal when they are not, so a deliberate calculation removes the guesswork before every flight that carries others.
Step-by-Step: How the Calculation Works
To carry passengers by day under 14 CFR 61.57, you must have made three takeoffs and landings within the preceding 90 days in an aircraft of the same category, class, and if required, type. For night passenger currency the same 90-day window applies, but the three takeoffs and landings must be to a full stop and made during the period from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise. The calculator counts backward from today and reports the earliest date your qualifying landings will age out.
The flight review requirement under 61.56 is separate: you must have completed a flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months to act as pilot in command at all. Instrument currency under 61.57(c) requires, within the preceding six calendar months, six instrument approaches plus holding procedures and intercepting and tracking courses. The tool applies each rule to its own clock so a lapse in one does not mask the status of another.
More Worked Examples
Example 1 — Day passenger currency
Your last three landings were on March 3. Ninety days later is roughly June 1, so through June 1 you may carry passengers by day; on June 2 you are no longer current and must make three more takeoffs and landings solo (or with an instructor) before carrying anyone again. The ratings on your certificate are unaffected — only the passenger privilege lapses.
Example 2 — Night currency is stricter
You made three daytime full-stop landings two weeks ago, so you are current for day passengers. A friend asks for an evening flight after dark. Because your recent landings were not made in the night window and were not necessarily to a full stop, you are not night-current: you must first make three full-stop landings after the one-hour-after-sunset point before carrying that passenger at night.
Pilot Decision-Making Context
Currency is a legal floor, not a proficiency ceiling. A pilot can be perfectly legal on the calendar yet rusty after a long layoff, and the safer habit is to treat an approaching currency deadline as a prompt to fly with an instructor rather than simply to log the minimum landings. Building personal minimums that exceed the regulatory ones — for example, a recency standard for challenging crosswind or short-field work — is the mark of a disciplined pilot.
Practically, currency drives scheduling. If a trip with passengers is planned for late in the month, checking these dates in advance lets you insert a currency-restoring flight beforehand instead of discovering the lapse on the ramp. The calculator turns an easily forgotten set of rolling deadlines into concrete dates you can put on a calendar.
More Questions Answered
Does an expired flight review ground me completely?
It prevents you from acting as pilot in command until you complete a satisfactory flight review, but it does not affect your certificate itself. You can still fly with an authorized instructor to complete the review.
Do the three takeoffs and landings have to be on the same day?
No. They can be spread across the 90-day window, but all three must fall within it, and for night currency each must be a full-stop landing made in the defined night period.
Are calendar months different from 30-day months?
Yes, and the distinction matters. A calendar-month requirement runs to the last day of the month; the preceding-days requirements count actual days backward from today. This calculator applies whichever standard the specific rule uses.
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This calculator is for educational and planning purposes only. Always refer to your aircraft's POH/AFM, current NOTAMs, and official weather briefings. No calculator is a substitute for pilot-in-command judgment or CFI guidance. Read our full Safety Disclaimer.