Use this pilot currency and flight recency checklist before carrying passengers, flying under instrument rules, renting an aircraft, or scheduling a flight review. It separates the dates that affect legal eligibility from the recent practice that determines whether you are genuinely ready to fly.
Overview
“Current” and “proficient” are related, but they are not the same. Currency is a regulatory status based on specified recent experience, certificates, reviews, and endorsements. Proficiency is your practical ability to plan, operate, and manage risks safely in the aircraft and conditions you expect to encounter.
The rules depend on the aviation authority, the aircraft category and class, the operation, and sometimes the pilot’s age or medical status. This guide uses common United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concepts as a reference point and highlights where other authorities may differ. Before acting as pilot in command (PIC), confirm the applicable rule in the official regulations, your operating limitations, and your flight school or aircraft-rental requirements. A logbook review is a planning tool, not a substitute for regulatory advice.
Keep one record for each recurring requirement: the relevant flight date, the aircraft category and class, the type if applicable, the operation completed, and the date by which the requirement must be renewed. Do not rely only on a digital calendar reminder. Your logbook, medical documentation, certificates, and endorsements should tell the same story.
What to track
Start with the following checklist. The dates below describe commonly used FAA frameworks; other authorities may use different look-back periods, terminology, or renewal procedures.
| Item | What to verify | Practical review question |
|---|---|---|
| Passenger-carrying currency | For many FAA operations, the required takeoffs and landings must be completed within the preceding 90 days in the appropriate category and class, and type when required. | Have I completed the required takeoffs and landings in the aircraft configuration I will use? |
| Night passenger currency | FAA rules generally require three takeoffs and three full-stop landings during the applicable night period within the preceding 90 days to carry passengers at night. | Were the landings full stop, and did the flights occur during the regulatory night window? |
| Instrument recency | Under the FAA framework, instrument experience is tracked over a six-calendar-month period. Typical tasks include approaches, holding procedures, and intercepting and tracking courses. A further period may be available to regain eligibility through an instrument proficiency check. | Have I logged every required instrument task, with enough detail to support the entry? |
| Flight review | An FAA pilot generally needs a satisfactory flight review within the preceding 24 calendar months unless an accepted alternative applies. | What is the completion date, and does my logbook identify the instructor and review? |
| Medical or alternative qualification | Confirm that your medical certificate, driver-license medical qualification where permitted, or other operating qualification remains valid for the operation. | Am I using the correct medical standard for this flight, aircraft, and pilot role? |
| Endorsements and training | Check aircraft-specific, category-and-class, complex, high-performance, tailwheel, high-altitude, seaplane, or other required endorsements and training. | Does this aircraft or operation introduce a requirement I have not documented? |
| Aircraft and operator requirements | Rental providers, clubs, employers, insurers, and aircraft operating limitations may impose recency standards stricter than the legal minimum. | Has the owner, club, insurer, or operator confirmed its checkout and currency policy? |
Major aviation authorities do not use one universal currency system. EASA, the UK Civil Aviation Authority, Transport Canada, and other regulators may distinguish between licensing privileges, class ratings, passenger-carrying recency, instrument privileges, and operator proficiency checks in different ways. A pilot changing jurisdictions should review the state of licence issue, the state of registry, and the rules governing the particular flight. Never assume that an FAA logbook entry automatically satisfies another authority’s recency requirement.
Cadence and checkpoints
A simple date-based worksheet makes an approaching lapse visible. Copy this list into your logbook notes or planning system and update it after every relevant flight:
- Last passenger-currency flight: record the date, aircraft category and class, type if applicable, and each qualifying takeoff and landing.
- Last night-currency flight: record the date and confirm that the takeoffs and full-stop landings met the applicable night definition.
- Instrument window: record each approach, holding task, and intercepting or tracking task, along with the end of the applicable calendar-month period.
- Last flight review: record the completion date, instructor details, and any aircraft or operation limitations discussed.
- Medical or alternative qualification: record the certificate type, expiration or review date, and any restrictions.
- Aircraft-specific items: record endorsements, checkout dates, simulator events, and the rental or insurance policy’s recency requirement.
Review the worksheet monthly if you fly regularly and at least before every passenger or instrument flight. Add reminders well before the regulatory deadline. A reminder should prompt you to inspect the underlying logbook entry, not simply mark a date as complete.
If a requirement is close to expiring, schedule the appropriate activity with a qualified instructor or safety pilot where permitted. Confirm in advance what will count, what aircraft may be used, and what must be entered in the logbook. If the deadline has passed, do not treat a planned training flight as automatically restoring currency; determine whether the rules require specified landings, an instrument proficiency check, a flight review, or another form of evaluation.
How to interpret changes
When reviewing your status, separate three questions: Am I legally eligible? Does the aircraft or operator impose additional conditions? and Am I prepared for this specific flight? Passing the first test does not answer the other two.
A pilot who is legally current may still need a refresher after a long break, a change from a familiar trainer to a faster aircraft, or a return to instrument flying after limited practice. Consider a proficiency flight covering abnormal procedures, emergency planning, weather decision-making, navigation, radio work, and the aircraft systems that matter for the planned trip. Use an instructor when you need an objective assessment or when the rules require one.
For an approaching passenger-currency lapse, the usual solution is to complete the required takeoffs and landings in the applicable aircraft configuration before carrying passengers. For an instrument-recurrency lapse, review the current rule and arrange the authorized training or proficiency check rather than relying on informal practice alone. For an expired flight review, coordinate a new review with an authorized instructor before exercising privileges that require it.
Also check for changes outside your personal logbook: a new aircraft type, a tailwheel or high-performance transition, revised operating limitations, a medical restriction, or a club policy. A flight can be legally possible under one set of conditions and unavailable under another.
When to revisit
Run the full checklist before your first flight after a break, before carrying passengers, before filing an instrument flight plan, before renting a different aircraft, and before a flight review or proficiency check. Repeat it monthly or quarterly depending on how often you fly, and immediately after any regulatory, medical, licensing, or operator-policy change.
Before departure, use this final sequence:
- Open the logbook and identify the latest qualifying entries, not just the latest flight date.
- Calculate each look-back period or calendar-month deadline under the rule that applies to your operation.
- Confirm medical status, flight-review status, endorsements, aircraft checkout, and operator requirements separately.
- Ask an instructor, examiner, authority, or operator for clarification when an entry or rule is ambiguous.
- Compare legal currency with practical proficiency for the weather, route, aircraft, and passengers you expect.
- Record the next review date immediately after completing the flight, training, or evaluation.
Keep this checklist with your normal flight-planning routine and verify the official rules before relying on it. For related preparation, review the VFR preflight weather briefing checklist, and see the guide to pilot medical certificate requirements and renewal timelines. A small, regular logbook audit is easier—and safer—than discovering a lapse at the aircraft.
