The 90-Day Rule for Carrying Passengers

To act as pilot in command of an aircraft with anyone else on board, you need three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days, flown as the sole manipulator of the controls, in an aircraft of the same category and class (and type, if a type rating is required). That is 90 day currency under 14 CFR 61.57(a). If the airplane has a tailwheel, those landings must be to a full stop in a tailwheel airplane. To carry anyone between 1 hour after sunset and 1 hour before sunrise, 61.57(b) adds three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop inside that same night window.

One detail catches a lot of instructors. Since December 2, 2024, the rule says "persons," not "passengers," and a student on a dual lesson is a person on board. Below: what each paragraph requires, how to count the 90 days, what changed in 2024, and how a flight school can check currency before it hands over the keys.

What 90 day currency requires under 61.57(a)

Within the preceding 90 days, the pilot in command must have:

• Made at least three takeoffs and three landings.
• Been the sole manipulator of the flight controls for each one. Landings the instructor flew, or that another pilot flew while you rode along, don't count.
• Flown them in the same category and class as the aircraft you'll fly with people aboard. Airplane single-engine land is a different class from multiengine land or single-engine sea, so a pilot current in a 172 is not current to carry anyone in a Seminole.
• Flown them in the same type, but only if the aircraft requires a type rating. Most piston trainers don't, so landings in a Cherokee count toward a Skyhawk.

Touch-and-goes count for day currency in a nosewheel airplane. The rule also applies to any aircraft certificated for more than one pilot flight crewmember, whether or not anyone else is aboard.

Paragraph (a)(3) allows the takeoffs and landings in a full flight simulator or flight training device, but only one approved for landings and used in an approved course at a part 142 training center. The AATD in a typical flight school's sim room doesn't qualify.

Tailwheel currency: full stop, in a tailwheel airplane

If the airplane you're about to fly has a tailwheel, 61.57(a)(1)(ii) requires the three landings to be to a full stop in an airplane with a tailwheel. Touch-and-goes in a Citabria don't count, and neither do full stops in a 172. The rollout and the slow end of the landing are where tailwheel airplanes get away from people, so that's the part the rule makes you practice.

It works in one direction only. Three full-stop landings in a Cub also count toward day currency in a 172, since both are airplane single-engine land. Landings in the 172 do nothing for the Cub.

Night currency under 61.57(b)

To act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying persons during the period from 1 hour after sunset to 1 hour before sunrise, you need three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop within the preceding 90 days, made during that same period, as sole manipulator, in the same category, class, and type (if a type rating is required).

The regulations use three different definitions of "night," and the dispatch desk sees all three:

So a landing 40 minutes after sunset can go in the logbook as night time and still not count toward night currency. When a student or renter is building night currency, have them keep landing until well past the one-hour mark.

Night landings do count toward day currency. Three full-stop night landings in the last 90 days satisfy 61.57(a) for that category and class, because (a) doesn't care what time of day they happened.

How to count the 90 days

The window is 90 days, not calendar months. That's different from the flight review under 61.56 (24 calendar months) and instrument currency under 61.57(c) (6 calendar months), which both run to the end of a month.

The practical way to think about it: currency lasts until your third most recent qualifying landing drops out of the 90-day window. A renter who made three landings on May 1 and hasn't flown since loses them at the end of July. A renter who made one landing each on May 1, June 10, and July 20 also loses currency at the end of July, even though they flew last week, because the May 1 landing falls out and only two remain.

Pilots who fly every week never think about this. The renter who flies once a month, often with a single landing at the end of a sightseeing hop, is the one who quietly falls out.

What changed in 2024: "persons," not "passengers"

The FAA's final rule published October 2, 2024 (89 FR 80310) took effect December 2, 2024. It did three things that matter at a flight school:

1. It added a definition of passenger to 14 CFR 61.1: any person on board other than a crewmember, FAA personnel, manufacturer personnel required for type certification, or a person receiving or providing flight training, checking, or testing.
2. Because instructors and students are no longer passengers to each other, it changed 61.57(a) and (b) to say "carrying persons." The preamble explains why: otherwise a non-current instructor could act as pilot in command with a student who can't fly the airplane.
3. It added two exceptions. Under 61.57(e)(5), paragraphs (a) and (b) don't apply to a pilot receiving flight training from an authorized instructor if the training is limited to meeting (a) and (b), the pilot meets every other requirement to act as pilot in command, and the instructor and pilot are the only people aboard. Under 61.57(e)(6), they don't apply to the examiner or the applicant on a practical test.

Read literally, the current text means whoever acts as pilot in command needs 61.57 currency whenever anyone else is in the airplane, unless an exception applies. On a dual lesson with a student pilot, the instructor is normally pilot in command, so the instructor needs day currency for day lessons and night currency for night lessons. The (e)(5) exception covers the pilot being trained, and only on a flight whose purpose is getting current.

This catches instructors who teach mostly in daylight. A CFI who flew plenty of night lessons in December can go all summer without a full-stop landing an hour after sunset, then get assigned a student's night cross-country in September.

If your situation isn't clearly covered, read the regulation and the preamble yourself, and ask your FSDO. This post explains the rule; it isn't legal advice.

How to get current again

• Fly alone. Paragraph (a)(2) lets you act as pilot in command under day VFR or day IFR to get current, with no persons or property aboard other than those needed for the flight. Paragraph (b) only restricts carrying persons at night, so a pilot can fly solo at night to regain night currency.
• Fly with an instructor. Under (e)(5), a pilot who meets every other requirement to act as pilot in command can regain currency with an authorized instructor as the only other person aboard. If the instructor acts as pilot in command instead, the instructor needs to be current.

Many schools and clubs don't let a renter go solo to regain currency after a long gap. They require a flight with an instructor, and they write that into the rental agreement. That's school policy, and it can be stricter than the regulation.

What 61.57(a) and (b) don't cover

Passenger currency is one of several clocks a pilot keeps. None replaces another:

• Instrument currency, 61.57(c): within the 6 calendar months before the month of the flight, six instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks, and intercepting and tracking courses. A pilot who has been out of instrument currency for more than 6 calendar months can get it back only with an instrument proficiency check under 61.57(d).
• Flight review, 61.56: every 24 calendar months.
• Medical certificate, 61.23, or BasicMed under its own conditions. How to track pilot medicals and document expirations covers durations.
• Student solo endorsements, 61.87(n): a student pilot needs an endorsement for the make and model from an instructor who gave the training within the 90 days before the flight. Same number, different rule.
• Your school's checkout and recurrency rules, which are often set by your insurance policy and are often stricter than the regulations.

Checking currency before a rental

The regulation is written to the pilot in command, but a school that rents airplanes has its own reasons to check: insurance, safety, and the fact that the airplane comes back to you. A dispatch checklist that works:

1. Before a renter carries anyone, look at their last three qualifying landings in the logbook: date, aircraft class, day or night, full stop, and tailwheel if it matters.
2. Check the flight review date, and the medical (class, exam date, and age at the exam) or BasicMed paperwork.
3. Check your own checkout and recurrency rules for that make and model.
4. For night lessons, check the instructor's night currency, not only the student's readiness.
5. Write the result down. A line on the check-out form beats a dispatcher's memory.

Software can carry the documents half of this. Sky Schedule keeps medicals and other documents with their expiration dates on the compliance dashboard, and flags missing documents or endorsements when someone books on the schedule and again in the dispatch report. The landing count for 61.57 still comes from the pilot's logbook, which is the only record that includes flying done somewhere other than your school. If you run a club, the same checks belong in your flying club scheduling rules.

This week, go through your instructor roster and confirm each CFI's last three full-stop landings in the night window before the next night lesson goes on the schedule.

Last reviewed against the eCFR text of 14 CFR 61.57 in October 2026.