A member books the club's Cessna 172 for Saturday to take two friends up. Their flight review is good until next spring. Their last three landings were back in July. Nobody notices until they're at the dispatch desk with the friends in tow, and now somebody has to tell them.
A booking system can catch some of that much earlier. It can check a date on a member's record, such as the day their flight review was endorsed. It can't count landings, though, and it can't see who's sitting in the other seat. So the practical way to enforce the 90-day rule in 14 CFR 61.57 is a club rule at booking, with the passenger check left to the pilot's logbook. And that rule mustn't block the solo or dual flight a lapsed member needs to get current again.
Below we work through 61.56, 61.57 and the medical rules with real dates, then turn them into booking rules. Every rule quoted is US federal regulation in 14 CFR Part 61, as published on eCFR and checked on 9 November 2026. The FAA guidance quoted is from AC 61-98E.
The flight review: 14 CFR 61.56#
A flight review is at least 1 hour of flight training and 1 hour of ground training (61.56(a)), with exceptions for glider pilots and some flight instructors (61.56(b) and (f)). It has to cover the current general operating and flight rules of Part 91. It also covers the manoeuvres and procedures the person giving the review decides are needed for the pilot to show safe exercise of the privileges of their certificate.
The currency rule is 61.56(c). No person may act as pilot in command unless, "since the beginning of the 24th calendar month before the month in which that pilot acts as pilot in command", they've completed a flight review in an aircraft for which they're rated, given by an authorised instructor, and hold a logbook endorsement from that instructor certifying satisfactory completion.
It counts in calendar months, so the day of the month doesn't matter. A review endorsed on 14 March 2025 covers a pilot in command flight on any day up to and including 31 March 2027. On 1 April 2027 it stops counting (no joke).
A few things stand in for a flight review within the same period:
- A practical test or proficiency check conducted by an examiner, an approved check airman or a US Armed Force, for a pilot certificate, rating or operating privilege (61.56(d)(1)). A member who passed an instrument rating checkride last year doesn't also need a flight review this year.
- A flight instructor practical test with an examiner, for the certificate, an additional rating on it, the instructor recent experience requirements of 61.197(b)(1), or reinstatement under 61.199(b)(2) (61.56(d)(2)).
- A completed phase of the FAA WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program (61.56(e)). The rule says "an FAA-sponsored pilot proficiency program", and AC 61-98E names WINGS as that programme.
- Student pilots in training for a certificate with a current solo endorsement under 61.87 don't need a flight review (61.56(g)).
One thing that surprises people is that you can't fail a flight review the way you can fail a checkride. AC 61-98E calls it "not a practical test, but rather a training event in which proficiency is evaluated". If the instructor won't sign it off, AC 61-98E says they should log the flight as dual instruction given and endorse the pilot's logbook only for the training received. No endorsement records a failure, and the pilot keeps flying on their previous review until its 24 calendar months run out. So the evidence a club asks for is always a positive record. That's the endorsement, the checkride date or the WINGS phase completion.
Recent flight experience: 14 CFR 61.57#
Day currency: three take-offs and three landings#
Under 61.57(a)(1), no person may act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying persons, or of an aircraft certificated for more than one pilot flight crewmember, unless they've made at least three take-offs and three landings within the preceding 90 days, as sole manipulator of the controls, in an aircraft of the same category, class and type (if a class or type rating is required). If the aircraft to be flown is a tailwheel aeroplane, the landings must have been to a full stop in a tailwheel aeroplane.
For a club, three details matter more than the rest.
- In a single-pilot aircraft, it only bites with people on board. A pilot whose 90 days have lapsed can still fly the aircraft solo, day VFR or day IFR, to get current again, as long as nobody is carried other than those needed for the flight (61.57(a)(2)).
- For most club aircraft it's category and class, not make and model. AC 61-98E's example is that a pilot who meets the requirement in a Cessna 152 also meets it in a Cessna 172. The same paragraph recommends getting current in each make and model before carrying passengers, and club checkout rules cover that gap.
- Flying with an instructor is exempt when the training is limited to meeting 61.57(a) and (b), the pilot meets all the other requirements to act as pilot in command, and the instructor and the pilot are the only people on board (61.57(e)(5)).
Night currency: three landings to a full stop#
To carry persons between 1 hour after sunset and 1 hour before sunrise, the pilot needs three take-offs and three landings to a full stop within the preceding 90 days. They have to be made in that same period of the night, as sole manipulator, in the same category, class and type (if a class or type rating is required) (61.57(b)). Day current doesn't mean night current. So an evening booking that might run late needs its own check, and we'd treat any booking ending near sunset as one.
Instrument experience#
IFR currency (six approaches, holding, and intercepting and tracking courses in the 6 calendar months before the month of the flight, 61.57(c)) rarely works as a booking rule, because a booking seldom says whether the flight will be IFR.
Medicals and BasicMed#
A private pilot flying on a third-class medical certificate is covered to the end of the 60th month after the month of the examination if they were under 40 on the date of the examination. If they were 40 or older, it's to the end of the 24th month (61.23(d)). A medical booking rule should check the date of the flight against that end date.
BasicMed is where a medical rule tends to trip up, because BasicMed members hold no current medical certificate. Under 61.113(i) and 61.23(c)(3), a private pilot can act as pilot in command without one if they hold a US driver's licence, have held a medical certificate at some point after 14 July 2006, completed the BasicMed medical education course in the previous 24 calendar months, and had a comprehensive medical examination from a state-licensed physician in the previous 48 calendar months. Their logbook holds the completed medical examination checklist and the course completion certificate.
Aircraft and flight limits apply too. No more than 7 occupants authorised, 6 passengers, a maximum take-off weight of 12,500 pounds, and flight no higher than 18,000 feet MSL, no faster than 250 knots indicated, and within the United States unless another country allows it (61.113(i)). As for any private pilot, it's not for compensation or hire (61.113(a)).
A booking rule that requires a valid medical certificate will treat a BasicMed member as having none, and they'll be locked out of aircraft they're perfectly entitled to fly. Work out how your club records BasicMed, and which aircraft it covers, before you switch a medical rule on.
Worked example: a passenger flight on 14 November 2026#
Here's that Saturday booking with real dates. A member wants to take two friends in the club's Cessna 172 on Saturday 14 November 2026, back before sunset.
| Check | Their record | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Flight review (61.56(c)) | Endorsed 14 March 2025 | Valid to 31 March 2027 |
| Day currency (61.57(a)) | Last three take-offs and landings, club Cessna 172, 22 July 2026 | Lapsed: 115 days old on the day; they passed 90 days old on 20 October |
| Night currency (61.57(b)) | Not needed: back before sunset | Not checked |
As booked, the flight isn't legal. A solo flight first, to make three take-offs and three landings, would be. So would a flight with an instructor as the only other person on board. Both should be bookable. A club rule of "no booking without three landings in 90 days" blocks the very flight the member needs to fix the problem.
Now the bit that catches clubs out. A booking can't see the two friends, so a recent-hours rule judges it on hours flown, not on 61.57. Say the rule asks for one hour in 90 days, and the member flew 1.2 hours in the club 172 in October without landing three times. The rule passes a flight the regulation doesn't allow.
And one more twist. Had the member made three take-offs and three landings in a club Cessna 152 in early October, the answer changes. Those landings count for the 172 under the regulation (AC 61-98E, 3.1.3). If your club wants landings on the same type, write that down as a club rule.
Turning the regulations into booking rules#
At many clubs, the dispatcher or duty instructor looks at a logbook before handing over the keys, and nothing flags it when that's skipped on a busy morning. Checking at booking gives the member days to sort out a lapse rather than minutes. The evidence already exists, because 61.51(a) requires each pilot to record the experience used for a flight review and for recent flight experience. The work is getting the right bit of it onto the member's record.
Decide what each rule needs to know before choosing how to check it.
| Requirement | What the club needs on record | How often it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Flight review | Date of the review endorsement, or of the qualifying checkride or WINGS phase | Every two years |
| Day currency, persons carried | Dates of the last three take-offs and landings, in which category and class, and full stop for tailwheel | Every flight |
| Night currency, persons carried | Dates of the last three full-stop night landings | Every night flight |
| Medical | Class, date of examination and the end date it gives, or BasicMed course and examination dates | Every two to five years |
| Club checkout on type | Date of the checkout, and recent hours on type if your club requires them | Set by your club |
Working from that table, here's what we'd do.
- Write the club rule next to the FAR. For each aircraft, say whether you enforce the federal minimum or something stricter, such as recent hours on that type, so everyone knows which is which.
- Treat solo and passenger flights differently. 61.57(a) and (b) apply only when persons are carried (61.57(a) also applies to any aircraft certificated for more than one pilot). If your system can't tell the two apart, decide which way the default falls and how a member books the flight that makes them current.
- Leave the instructor route open. Dual flights to regain currency are exempt under 61.57(e)(5), so a currency rule shouldn't block a booking that includes an instructor.
- Catch flying done elsewhere. A flight review done at another airport, or landings in a member's own aircraft, never reach the club's records by themselves. Name who checks the logbook endorsement or entries and updates the member's record.
- Record the date, not the expiry. Store when the flight review was endorsed and work out the end of the 24th calendar month from it. A hand-typed expiry date is one more thing to get wrong.
Booking restrictions in Volanti#
Volanti checks booking restrictions when the booking is made, against the rules you set on each aircraft, and blocks a booking that fails them. It doesn't read logbooks or count landings. So for 61.56 and 61.57 it enforces your club's version of the rule rather than the regulation itself.
- Recent flying is a minimum of recent hours. That's a club rule on top of 61.57 that counts hours rather than landings. The pilot's logbook stays the record of take-offs and landings.
- Flight review and checkouts work as user groups. Put members whose review is current, or who are checked out on the aircraft, in a group and restrict the aircraft to it. Taking them out again is a manual step, so give it to one named person, working from the end of each member's 24th calendar month.
- Licence, ratings, medical and membership are direct rules, so a member whose medical has lapsed can't book an aircraft that requires a valid one.
Before you switch on the recent-hours or user group rule, check how it treats a dual booking. Agree how a member whose review or recent hours have lapsed books the flight that fixes it, so the rule doesn't block the flight review or the regain flight described in this guide.
Licences, ratings and medicals sit on the member record with their expiry dates and a photo of the licence. Staff enter them today. Pilots will be able to upload their own licences and medicals Coming soon.
Booking and scheduling lists every restriction type.