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FAR 61.57 Explained Simply: Staying Current Without the Confusion

FAR 61.57 is one of the regulations pilots reference most often — and one of the most commonly misunderstood. Whether you're trying to figure out if you can legally carry passengers or whether your IFR currency is still valid, here's a plain-English breakdown of what the regulation actually requires.

The Two Main Buckets

FAR 61.57 covers two separate currency requirements:

1. Recent flight experience for carrying passengers
2. Instrument currency for IFR operations

These are independent of each other. You can be current for passengers but not for IFR. You can be IFR current but not current to carry passengers at night. Understanding which applies to your planned flight is the starting point.

Part 1: Passenger Currency (FAR 61.57(a) and (b))

To carry passengers, you must have made 3 takeoffs and 3 landings within the preceding 90 days in the same category, class, and type (if a type rating is required) of aircraft.

That's the base rule. Here's where it gets nuanced:

Night Passenger Currency (FAR 61.57(b))

To carry passengers at night (one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise), those 3 takeoffs and landings must have been made at night — and they must be to a full stop.

Touch-and-goes do not satisfy the night currency requirement. Full stop landings only.

Common confusion: A pilot who does 10 daytime touch-and-goes is current to carry passengers during the day. That same pilot is NOT current to carry passengers at night unless they've made 3 full-stop night landings in the past 90 days.

The "Same Category and Class" Requirement

Your currency must be in the same category and class. Airplane currency in a Cessna 172 (ASEL) does not count toward currency in a multiengine airplane (AMEL).

Practical note: If you're renting different aircraft types, check your currency separately for each category and class you intend to fly with passengers.

Solo Flights: No Passenger Currency Needed

The takeoff and landing requirements in FAR 61.57(a) and (b) apply only when you carry passengers. You can be out of passenger currency and still fly solo legally — though you should assess your proficiency honestly regardless. Solo or not, acting as PIC still takes a current flight review (FAR 61.56), and flying IFR takes the instrument currency below.

Part 2: Instrument Currency (FAR 61.57(c))

To act as PIC under IFR or in IMC, you must have logged within the preceding 6 calendar months:

• 6 instrument approaches
• Holding procedures and tasks
• Intercepting and tracking courses through navigational systems

These can be logged in actual IMC, in simulated IMC under a view-limiting device, or in an approved flight simulator or training device.

The 6-Month Grace Period

If you don't meet the currency requirements at the 6-month mark, you get an additional 6-month window — but during this period, you cannot act as PIC under IFR or in IMC. You must complete the required tasks during this grace period or obtain an IPC.

If the grace period expires without restoration of currency, an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) with an authorized instructor is required before you can resume IFR flight as PIC.

Calendar Months vs. Days

"6 calendar months" means the last day of the month, 6 months prior. If your last qualifying approach was logged on March 15, your currency window runs through September 30 — not September 15. This distinction matters at the edges and is worth understanding precisely.

What Counts as a Qualifying Approach?

The FAA's position, set out in its legal interpretations and in its 2015 guidance to pilots (InFO 15012), is that a qualifying approach is an instrument approach procedure flown solely by reference to instruments, in actual or simulated instrument conditions. Flying a visual approach in VMC does not satisfy the instrument approach currency requirement, even if you were filed IFR.

You must be established on each required segment of the approach down to the minimum descent altitude or decision altitude. Under the hood, the simulated conditions have to continue to minimums; in actual conditions, the approach still counts if you break out on the final approach segment. Shooting a GPS approach in CAVU with the field in sight from 20 miles doesn't count if you're not actually flying it on instruments.

The Flight Review Requirement (FAR 61.56)

While not technically part of 61.57, the flight review is frequently confused with currency requirements. Here's the quick distinction:

• FAR 61.56 (Flight Review): Required every 24 calendar months to act as PIC, unless a practical test, an examiner's proficiency check or a WINGS phase in that time takes its place; student pilots with a current solo endorsement don't need one. Minimum 1 hour ground and 1 hour flight with a CFI. No specific maneuvers required — the CFI determines content. No "pass/fail" — if the CFI isn't satisfied, they simply don't sign off.
• FAR 61.57 (Recent Flight Experience): Governs the specific takeoff/landing and instrument approach requirements described above.

They are separate requirements. A current flight review does not satisfy instrument currency, and instrument currency does not substitute for a flight review.

Quick Reference Table

A Note on Currency vs. Proficiency

Meeting the legal standard is the floor, not the ceiling. Currency tells you whether you've logged the minimum required events. Proficiency tells you whether you're actually ready for the flight you're planning.

A pilot who did 3 touch-and-goes 89 days ago is technically current to carry passengers. Whether they're proficient for a cross-country with passengers in gusty crosswind conditions is a separate question — and the more important one.

When in doubt, fly dual first.

Questions about currency or ready to schedule a flight review or IPC? Cornerstone Flight Academy CFIs are available for all currency-related training. Check availability here.

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