A member asks to take the club Arrow away for the weekend. They've got a licence, a medical and a logbook with plenty of hours in it. Just none in your aircraft, and none from your runway.
Self-fly hire comes down to two separate decisions. The first is made once, at the checkout flight, when an instructor decides whether this pilot can be trusted with this aircraft. The second is made at every booking after that, when a currency rule decides whether they still can. Most hire trouble starts when a club blurs the two. The rest usually comes from a currency rule so tight it blocks the one flight a lapsed renter needs to get current again.
Training the law requires before a new type or feature#
Some aircraft can't legally be flown until the pilot has had specific training, whatever the club thinks. And that training is only the floor.
In the US, the UK, Ireland and Australia it's usually a one-off, and once done it covers every aircraft with the same feature. New Zealand is the odd one out. It needs a type rating for each type, so the law there already asks for something close to a checkout. In Canada a blanket type rating on the licence covers single-pilot aeroplanes that aren't high performance, with no separate endorsement for things like retractable undercarriage.
Your club checkout sits apart from all of this. It records something the law doesn't ask about: that the pilot has flown this aircraft, with your instructor, from your airfield.
| Region | When training is legally required before flying | How it is recorded |
|---|---|---|
| US (14 CFR 61.31) | A complex airplane (retractable landing gear, flaps and a controllable pitch propeller or FADEC, as defined in 61.1). A high-performance airplane (an engine of more than 200 horsepower). A tailwheel airplane. A pressurised aircraft with a service ceiling or maximum operating altitude above 25,000 feet MSL. Pilots who logged PIC time in complex or high-performance airplanes before 4 August 1997, or in tailwheel or pressurised aircraft before 15 April 1991, are exempt (61.31(e)(2), (f)(2), (g)(3), (i)(2)) | A logbook endorsement from an authorised instructor (for pressurised aircraft, ground and flight training endorsements in the logbook or training record). For complex and high-performance it is a one-time endorsement (61.31(e)(1)(ii) and (f)(1)(ii)) |
| UK (UK Part-FCL) | Differences training to extend privileges to another variant within a class or type rating (FCL.710(a)). The CAA lists the single-engine piston features that need it: variable pitch propellers, retractable undercarriage, turbo or super-charged engines, cabin pressurisation, tailwheel, EFIS and single lever power control | Entered in the pilot's logbook or equivalent record and signed by the instructor (FCL.710(e)). The CAA says differences training within the SEP class is valid indefinitely |
| Ireland (EU Part-FCL) | Differences or familiarisation training to extend privileges to another variant within a class or type rating (FCL.710(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011, which applies in Ireland) | Entered in the pilot's logbook or equivalent record and signed by the instructor or examiner (FCL.710(e)) |
| Australia (CASR Part 61) | A design feature endorsement for, among others, tailwheel undercarriage, retractable undercarriage, manual propeller pitch control (piston engine), gas turbine engine and pressurisation system on an aeroplane (61.755(2)) | Granted after flight training, or a class rating flight test in an aircraft with the feature, by an instructor or examiner, who endorses the licence document and notifies CASA (61.765, 61.180(2)) |
| New Zealand (CAR Part 61) | A current aircraft type rating for the aircraft being flown, subject to listed exceptions (61.5(d)) | Issued after conversion instruction and a type competency demonstration to a flight instructor, who enters it in the pilot's logbook (61.53 and 61.55) |
| Canada (CARs and Standard 421) | The licence carries a blanket type rating for single-pilot aeroplanes that are not high performance (Standard 421.40(1)(a)), and Standard 421 sets no separate endorsement for tailwheel or retractable undercarriage. A seaplane rating needs training and a qualifying flight (421.38(1)). Each high performance aeroplane type needs its own type rating, with ground training on the type and a qualifying flight (421.40(2)(a)(iii) and (3)(c)) | Endorsed on the licence (CAR 401.40) |
Australia's CASR 61.385(1) is worth reading wherever you fly, because it spells out what a checkout ought to prove. A licence holder may only fly an aircraft if they're competent in operating it to the Part 61 Manual of Standards, including its navigation and operating systems, normal, abnormal and emergency procedures, operating limitations, weight and balance, and take-off and landing performance. We'd lift that list straight into your checkout syllabus.
Here's how the gap shows up. Take a retractable-gear tourer with a constant-speed propeller, such as a PA-28R Arrow. A US member with a complex endorsement signed in 2009 has met the legal training requirement for those features. So has a UK member whose logbook shows differences training for retractable undercarriage and a variable pitch propeller.
Neither of them has flown your Arrow. They don't know its fuel selector, its gear warning or its avionics, and they've never put it down on your short grass runway. They're legal. They still need the club's checkout.
What a checkout flight should cover#
Write the checkout down for each aircraft, so a member gets the same one whichever instructor is on that day. Split it into ground and air.
On the ground
- The limitations section of this aircraft's flight manual, not the type in general: speeds, weights, the fuel and oil it takes, and any placards.
- The fuel system: tank selection, unusable fuel, and how the club expects fuel to be checked and recorded.
- A weight and balance calculation using this aircraft's own empty weight and arm, with the renter's usual load. The weight and balance calculator makes a quick worked example.
- Take-off and landing performance from your runway on a warm day at maximum weight. The take-off distance calculator shows how fast the margin disappears on grass.
- The avionics and autopilot as fitted, including how this aircraft's GPS is set up.
- Club procedures: the aircraft's defect or tech log, reporting a defect, booking out and in, keys, refuelling, landing fees, and what to do when weather leaves the aircraft somewhere else overnight.
In the air
- Normal and crosswind take-offs and landings, and a go-around from low level.
- A glide approach and a simulated engine failure after take-off, flown in this aircraft.
- Short-field technique if your runway or the renter's likely destinations call for it.
- Any feature new to the pilot, even if they're already legally qualified for it.
We'd check out in stages: local solo first, then landings away, then passengers, then overnight trips. Record each stage the same way every time, for example "PA-28R [registration], stage 2 (landings away), signed [instructor's name and authorisation], [date]". Then anyone looking at the record can see which stage the pilot has reached, who signed it and when.
Bill the checkout as dual hire. The renter pays for the aircraft and the instructor. Otherwise the club ends up quietly subsidising it.
Setting a currency rule renters can meet#
The national rules on recent flying and rating validity set the minimum for acting as pilot in command and for carrying passengers. They differ more than most members expect, and our guide to booking rules for licences, medicals and recent flying sets them out country by country.
The club rule sits on top. It should be about this aircraft or this group of aircraft, because that's what the checkout was about.
A typical club rule asks for a minimum of flying on type in a recent period, with a dual check flight as the way back in. One hour on type in the last 60 days, say. A quieter club might want a longer period. A complex or high-value aircraft justifies a shorter one.
Here's how that plays out. Say a member last flew the club's Cessna 172 on Friday 14 August 2026, for 1.2 hours. They book it solo for Saturday 21 November. The 60 days before that flight start on 22 September, and they've flown nothing in that window, so the rule isn't met.
It was last met on 13 October. From 14 October the August flight falls outside the 60 days. So the renter books a dual check flight with an instructor (your rule has to allow this, or they're stuck) and can then hire the aircraft solo.
Our guide to booking rules covers how to write the exception for the check flight and how to count flying done elsewhere.
Alongside the routine rule, set a figure for a full re-checkout after a long lay-off. For UK pilots, the CAA says SEP differences training is valid indefinitely, but recommends refresher training when a type or variant hasn't been flown for more than two years. A club can borrow that figure or pick its own.
What the hire agreement should say#
The checkout and the currency rule decide who flies. The hire agreement settles the money and the responsibility around the flight, ideally before either turns into an awkward conversation in the clubhouse. It should cover:
- Who may fly: members checked out on the aircraft, within the stage they've reached, and that the pilot in command is responsible for their own licence, medical and recency.
- Insurance: what the club's policy covers, any pilot conditions it sets, and the excess the renter pays if they damage the aircraft. Read the policy's pilot conditions and make sure your club rules are at least as strict.
- What is charged: which meter the hire is billed on, whether fuel is included, and any minimum daily charge for trips away. Our guide to billing flight time compares the options, and wet and dry hire rates deals with the fuel question.
- Defects and diversions: how to report a defect, when not to fly, and who pays to recover an aircraft left away by weather or a fault.
- Cancellations and late returns: the notice the club expects, and what happens to the next booking.
Get it signed when a member joins. Then have the short version, or a waiver for the specific flight, accepted when they book. When the agreement changes, collect the new signature at the member's next booking.
Self-fly hire in Volanti#
In Volanti the hire agreement is signed electronically when a member joins, when they book, or when they pay online in the pilot portal. A pilot with an outstanding agreement can't use the portal until it's signed. The document library keeps each version with the signatures collected against it. Documents in the library, such as the local procedures for an aircraft, can be limited to members who meet a restriction, for example the user group checked out on it.
The checkout and the currency rule become booking restrictions on the aircraft. They're checked when the pilot books, so a booking that doesn't meet them is blocked.
The checkout list is a user group. After a checkout, add the pilot to the group that can book that aircraft, and restrict the aircraft to it. Moving pilots in and out of the group is a manual step, so we'd give it to the instructor who signs the checkout. The currency rule is a minimum recent hours restriction.
Licences, ratings and medicals sit on the member record with their expiry dates, and your office enters them. Pilots will be able to upload their own licences and medicals Coming soon.
Aircraft hire shows how this fits together for a club or business that hires to qualified pilots, and booking and scheduling sets out the restriction types.