How EASA currency actually works (and what most apps get wrong)

If you hold an EASA or UK PPL and you fly more than once a month, you have almost certainly had the same moment: you're planning a flight, you want to take a passenger, and you try to remember whether your last three take-offs and landings fall inside the 90-day window. You count them off in your head. You get it wrong. You check the app. The app says you're current. You take off anyway.

This article is about why "the app says I'm current" is not always the right answer, and what EASA Part-FCL actually requires.

What the regulation says

The relevant rule is FCL.060 "Recent experience" in Commission Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011. It is short and worth quoting:

A pilot shall not operate an aircraft in commercial air transport or carrying passengers unless he or she has carried out, in the preceding 90 days, at least 3 take-offs and 3 landings as a pilot flying in an aircraft of the same type or class or an FFS representing that type or class.

Three things matter in that sentence:

1. "In the preceding 90 days" — 90 calendar days. Not 90 × 24 hours. Not "about three months".
2. "As a pilot flying" — PF, not PNF/PM. Observing from the right seat does not count.
3. "Same type or class" — a PA-28 landing does not refresh your C172 currency. Class-rating grouping matters.

There is a separate rule for night currency, which requires at least one take-off, one approach, and one landing at night as PF within the preceding 90 days, if you intend to carry passengers at night.

And there is instrument currency (IR), which has its own, much more complex rule set involving recent experience, proficiency check intervals, and FCL.625.

Why calendar days matter

"Calendar days" is not the same as "hours ago". Take this example:

• You land at 18:30 on 1 January.
• You try to carry a passenger at 19:00 on 1 April.

Naïve rolling-hours arithmetic (90 × 24 = 2160 hours ago) says you are just barely current — the landing was 2159.5 hours ago. But EASA uses calendar days. The preceding 90 days means the 90 calendar days before today, counted back from the current date, ignoring the time of day. So the 1 January landing falls outside the window — it is the 91st day back — and you are not current to carry a passenger.

This matters because the calendar-day interpretation is always either the same as, or stricter than, the hours interpretation. A logbook app that computes currency from "hours elapsed" will occasionally tell you you're current when you're not. That is a dangerous failure mode.

What a passenger flight actually needs

For a standard day VFR flight with a passenger, in a single-engine piston, you need:

1. Valid licence — PPL(A) or higher, not expired.
2. Valid medical — class 2 or higher, in date.
3. Valid class rating — SEP(land) or whatever the aircraft requires, not expired.
4. 90-day passenger currency — 3 take-offs and 3 landings in the preceding 90 calendar days on the same class/type.
5. Aircraft-specific type checkout if required by the aircraft or your insurance.

Miss any one of these and the flight is illegal — not because it's unsafe, but because the paperwork doesn't add up.

What "same class or type" means in practice

• SEP(land) is a class rating. A landing in a C172 refreshes currency for a C152, a PA-28, a DR400, or any other SEP(land) aircraft.
• Type ratings (e.g. SR22, Cirrus, most twins, all jets) require type-specific currency. A C172 landing does not refresh PA-34 currency.
• MEP(land) is a separate class rating. A SEP landing does not refresh MEP currency and vice versa.

The class/type grouping is prescribed in Annex I Part-FCL of the regulation. If you are unsure which grouping your aircraft falls into, your flying school or the aircraft's flight manual will say so.

Night currency

FCL.060(b)(2) says that to carry passengers at night, you must, in the preceding 90 days, have performed at least one take-off, one approach, and one landing at night as a pilot flying in an aircraft of the same type or class.

Two things to note:

• "At night" means civil twilight, not a fixed clock hour. More on that in the night flying article.
• The night currency requirement is in addition to the normal 90-day passenger currency. You need both.

Instrument currency (briefly)

IR currency under EASA Part-FCL is not a simple "preceding 90 days" rule. It involves the validity period of your IR (12 months), a proficiency check with an Examiner to revalidate, and, for purposes of actual IFR operation, recency requirements that vary by IR type (single/multi-engine, aeroplane/helicopter). Don't try to compute this from a blog article — check FCL.625 and FCL.625.A for the exact wording, and if in doubt, speak to your instructor or examiner.

What a good logbook should do for you

At minimum:

1. Compute 90-day currency on calendar-day windows, not elapsed hours.
2. Respect class/type grouping — a PA-28 landing should refresh SEP(land) currency, not MEP(land).
3. Treat night and day currency separately — a daytime landing does not refresh night currency.
4. Show you the expiry date, not just a "current/not current" badge — so you can plan a refresh flight in advance.
5. Keep simulator time separate from flight time, so simulator landings do not accidentally register as flight landings for currency purposes.

If your logbook app does not do all five of those, it is a risk. We built ours to do all five because we got tired of checking them by hand.

Where to read the source

• FCL.060 — recent experience — EU Regulation 1178/2011, Annex I (search for "FCL.060")
• FCL.625 — IR revalidation and renewal
• FCL.740 — class and type rating revalidation
• UK CAA: licensing information

If you're ever unsure about your currency status, call your flying school before you fly. A five-minute phone call is cheaper than an incident report.