Understanding pilot currency and recency

Passenger currency, night currency and instrument recency, what each one means, when it lapses, and how to stay ahead of it.

Currency is not the same as a valid licence

A licence and a class rating say you are qualified. Currency says you are recent. You can hold a perfectly valid licence and still not be allowed to take a passenger up this afternoon.

The three that matter most

For most general aviation pilots, recency comes down to three rolling windows.

• Passenger currency: three takeoffs, approaches and landings in the last 90 days as sole manipulator of the controls, in the same type or class, before carrying passengers (FCL.060)
• Night currency: at least one of those takeoffs, approaches and landings at night, before carrying passengers at night, unless you hold an instrument rating
• Instrument rating validity: under EASA there is no rolling approach count, the IR is kept valid by a yearly proficiency check

Why it slips

Currency lapses quietly. Nothing warns you: a month of bad weather, a maintenance slot and a holiday, and the 90 day window has closed on a rating you use constantly.

The counting itself is easy to get wrong too, because the window rolls forward every day and each landing drops out on its own anniversary.

Staying ahead of it

caeloo counts your rolling windows from the flights you have already logged, shows how many days each one has left, and can remind you before one runs out, so the fix is a circuit on a quiet evening, not a check flight you did not plan for.