FAA 14 CFR §61.57 — The 90-Day Recency Rule, Demystified

The full rule, plain

14 CFR §61.57(a) says: to act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers, you must have made at least three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days, in the same category, class and (if a type rating is required) type of aircraft.

The clock is rolling — there is no calendar reset. If you fly three on Monday and three more on Wednesday, you stay current 90 days from the most recent. Forget for 91 days and you lose passenger-carrying privileges until you rebuild the count.

Day vs night — two clocks

Section 61.57(b) adds a separate night currency requirement. The same three takeoffs and landings, in the preceding 90 days, but at night. And here's where it tightens:

• The night three must be to a full stop.
• The night three are in addition to the day three. They don't double-count.
• The "night" definition is the period beginning one hour after sunset and ending one hour before sunrise.

So a pilot who flies daytime hops only is day-current but not night-current. They can't carry passengers at night until they go fly three full-stop landings between sunset+1 and sunrise-1.

Why full stop only at night?

The rule reflects accident data. Touch-and-go practice during daylight builds the muscle memory for landing. At night, with reduced visual cues and ambiguous depth perception, the safety case for full stops is overwhelming. The full-stop forces the pilot to actually flare, contact, decelerate, and re-configure rather than skim and re-fly.

Same category, class — and sometimes type

Recency is aircraft-specific in a layered way:

• Category — airplane, rotorcraft, glider, lighter-than-air, powered-lift
• Class — single-engine land, multi-engine land, single-engine sea, multi-engine sea
• Type — only if a type rating is required for the aircraft (e.g. B737, A320, CL-65)

A captain type-rated on B737 needs three B737 takeoffs and landings in the last 90 days to carry passengers on a B737. Three A320 landings would not satisfy the B737 currency. Three Cessna 172 landings emphatically would not.

For category and class without type rating, the same logic applies one tier up: a CFI who's been giving Cessna 172 (single-engine land) instruction can't go fly a Piper Seneca (multi-engine land) with passengers under 90-day recency unless they have three multi-engine takeoffs and landings logged.

Sole manipulator

For the takeoffs and landings to count, you must be the sole manipulator of the controls. Sitting right seat while another pilot lands doesn't count — even if you call out the briefing. A pilot under instruction is the sole manipulator on the legs the instructor has them flying. A two-pilot crew alternating PF / PM swaps the credit accordingly.

Simulator credit

61.57(e) and (f) cover the simulator path. In summary:

1. Full Flight Simulator (Level C or D) with appropriate visual system: yes, can replace passenger-carrying recency in the same type, with conditions.
2. Flight Training Device (FTD): partial credit for instrument recency, more limited for §61.57(a) takeoff/landing.
3. Aviation Training Device (ATD, lower fidelity): instrument recency only.

For airline pilots flying a 737 type, your recurrent simulator session with full takeoff and landing exercises typically restores full §61.57 currency. Don't assume — confirm with your training department.

Instrument recency — the cousin rule

Don't confuse §61.57(a)/(b) with §61.57(c) — instrument currency. The instrument rule is a separate clock with its own quantities (six approaches, holding, intercepting and tracking courses) within the preceding 6 calendar months, not 90 days.

You can be passenger-current and instrument-non-current. You can fly your friends to Catalina VFR but you can't file IFR. Some pilots learn this distinction the hard way when they file Tuesday morning and discover their last hold was 7 months ago.

Common pitfalls

"My type ride was 60 days ago, I'm fine." Probably yes — type rides usually include three takeoffs and landings on the line check or the simulator session that satisfies §61.57(a). But check the logbook entries. If the line check was a single sector and your simulator session didn't credit landings, you may have only one or two on file.

"I flew a touch-and-go at night." Doesn't count for night currency. Has to be full stop. The most common cause of accidental loss of night currency is pilots assuming touch-and-go credits.

"I'm flying a different variant of my type." Most type ratings cover multiple variants under one type (e.g. B737-700/800/900 are all "B737" for §61.57). But B777 and B757 have separate type ratings even though some operators have common-type approvals. The currency follows the type rating, not the airframe variant.

"Three landings in a 30-minute pattern session at the local field." Counts. Recency doesn't care about flight length — only takeoffs, landings and category/class/type.

"I logged a takeoff but not a landing because the flight diverted." The takeoff still counts on its own. The landing counts at whichever runway you actually touched down on, even if it wasn't the planned destination.

Loss of currency — what now?

Lapsed currency doesn't suspend your certificate. It just removes the privilege of carrying passengers under those specific conditions until rebuilt. Practical recovery:

• Fly with another pilot acting as PIC, do your three takeoffs and landings as sole manipulator. They are the legal PIC, you are restoring currency.
• Or fly solo (no passengers, no cargo for compensation) and do the three. As long as no one else is in the aircraft beyond required crew, the rule isn't violated by the act of restoring it.
• Or use a qualifying simulator session.

Where Flight Log fits

Flight Log's recency engine looks at every flight you've logged in the last 90 days, sums takeoffs and landings, splits them into day and night based on the actual sunset/sunrise at your departure and destination airports, and shows a live status panel. Each day you fly, the count rolls forward; each day you don't, the oldest credits drop off. When you hit the 90-day boundary on your trailing flight, the recency dashboard switches from green to red and a notification fires.

The point isn't to replace your judgement. It's to remove the "did I really log that landing?" mental tax from the front of every passenger flight you brief.