Are You Sure You Meet The Recency Of Experience Requirements To Be Legal To Fly And Carry Passengers?

Spring has sprung and summer is not far away. Airshows and Fly-in events are starting to pop up all over, but are you legal to take to the air? Having that pilot certificate and medical (if required) in your wallet is just the starting place when it comes to being legal to fly. You must also be current by meeting recency of experience requirements.

The first one that usually comes to mind is the flight review. To act as PIC, the pilot must have received a flight review, or its approved equivalent, within the previous 24 calendar months. A flight review is just what the name implies; it’s a review. FAR 61.56 requires a minimum of one hour of ground training and one hour of flight training. Remember, if a pilot is not up-to-date with a flight review, that pilot is not allowed to fly as PIC with or without passengers.

Okay, let’s say you have your pilot certificate, meet the medical requirements, and your flight review is current. This means you can just load your passenger and go, right? Not exactly; you must also have made 3 takeoffs and landings within the preceding 90 days to be legal to carry a passenger (this is 90 days, not 3 calendar months). In a nose-wheel equipped plane, these takeoffs and landings may be touch-and-goes, but in a tail-wheel plane, they must be to a full stop. If you are planning a night flight, you also have to meet the “3-in-90” rule for nighttime flying and these landings must be to a full stop regardless of where the third wheel is located.

Remember, if you are out of date for a flight review, you may not pilot any aircraft as PIC, but if it’s only the “3-in-90” takeoffs and landings that needs updating, you can meet the requirement in solo flight and then load your passenger (if they are willing!). There is no regulation requiring the logging of all flight time, but be sure to log enough takeoffs and landings to be able to prove you are current for passenger carrying.

For student pilots, sport pilots, and recreational pilots, there’s also a requirement that you carry proof that certain logbook endorsements are in order. This means that your logbook or a copy of the endorsement must be with you when you act as pilot in command.

This is just a quick overview. FAR 61 gets into more details about category/class and type-rated recent experience requirements.

FMI: www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/