How DaPilot tracks day, night, and IFR currency

The currency cards on the dashboard read your flights and tell you, at a glance, how many days you have left before each currency event lapses. The math runs FAR 61.57 against your 90-day rolling window. Tap any card to see the exact list of flights contributing to it.

This guide covers what each card means, what counts toward currency under FAR 61.57, and what to do when a card flips to expired.

Why this matters

A currency lapse means you cannot legally carry passengers in that aircraft category and class until you regain currency. That's a real operational impact. Knowing exactly when a lapse will happen lets you schedule a recovery flight or a check ride before you find out the hard way the morning of a planned trip.

What the cards show

Three cards live on the dashboard for any pilot. A fourth (CFI currency) appears if you are an active flight instructor.

Day passenger currency (FAR 61.57(a))

You need three takeoffs and three landings in the preceding 90 days, in the same category and class (and the same type if a type rating is required). For tailwheel airplanes, the landings must be to a full stop.

The card shows: days remaining until your currency lapses, last currency-qualifying flight, and the next lapse date. Tap to see the three flights that established your currency.

Night passenger currency (FAR 61.57(b))

You need three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop at night, in the preceding 90 days, in the same category and class. Touch-and-go landings do not count for night currency.

The card shows the same fields as day, but keys on full-stop night landings only.

IFR currency (FAR 61.57(c))

You need to have performed and logged the following in the preceding 6 months in the same category of aircraft (or in a flight simulator or flight training device under specific conditions):

Six instrument approaches
Holding procedures
Intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigational electronic systems

The card shows days remaining until lapse, count of approaches in the 6-month window, and the most recent qualifying flight. If you've logged hold or tracking events on any flight in the window, those satisfy the second and third requirements.

If your IFR currency lapses, you have a 6-month grace period in which you can regain currency by completing the same set of tasks (you cannot fly IFR with passengers during the grace period unless you regain). After 12 months total, you need an Instrument Proficiency Check signed by a CFII.

CFI currency (FAR 61.197)

If you have an active flight instructor certificate, the CFI card shows your renewal cycle (24 calendar months from the date of your last renewal). DaPilot does not auto-detect your CFI status; toggle it in Settings → Pilot profile.

What counts and what does not

This is where pilots most often get tripped up.

Activity	Day passenger	Night passenger	IFR
T&G in day VMC	Yes	No	No
Full-stop in day VMC	Yes	No	No
T&G at night	No	No	No
Full-stop at night	Yes	Yes	No
Approach to a full-stop at night in IMC	Yes	Yes	Yes (if logged correctly)
Holds on a flight	No	No	Yes
Tracking courses on a flight	No	No	Yes
Sim training (FFS / FTD)	No	No	Yes (specific conditions)

Every approach you log counts toward IFR currency only if it was an actual instrument approach to landing. Practice approaches under the hood with a safety pilot count if logged as simulated instrument with the approach name in the approach field. Approaches in a flight simulator or FTD count toward IFR currency only under the conditions in §61.51(g) and §61.57(c)(3); DaPilot's IFR card includes simulator entries when you tag them as such.

When you tap a card

Tap any currency card and you see two things: the list of flights that contribute to the count, and the per-event breakdown. The list is dated, with the most recent flight at the top. If a flight contributed to multiple events (a night IFR full-stop is one flight that hit day, night, and IFR), it shows up under each.

If a flight is missing from the list and you expected it to count, the most common reasons are:

The flight is dated outside the rolling window (more than 90 days for day/night, more than 6 months for IFR).
The flight has zero landings logged (a partial leg that ended in a diversion gets no landing credit).
The flight was logged as solely simulated instrument with no actual landings; this counts toward IFR but not for night passenger.

Aircraft category and class

Currency is per category-class. A single-engine land flight does not establish currency in a multi-engine aircraft. DaPilot tracks each (category, class) combination separately. If you fly both single-engine land and multi-engine land regularly, you'll see two day cards on the dashboard, one for each class.

This matters most for pilots who fly mixed fleets (a CFI who instructs in C172 and BE76, an airline pilot who keeps proficiency in a personal SR22). The dashboard surfaces the lapse closest to expiry first.

Common pitfalls

Logging T&G as full-stop. Every airport pattern includes a few touch and goes; mislabeling them inflates your night currency artificially. The currency card is only as honest as the input.
Forgetting the night currency requires full-stop. Three night T&Gs do not establish night passenger currency; one go-around full-stop and one full-stop in day VMC is closer.
Logging an approach name without logging holds when you actually did one. Holds and tracking are separate FAR 61.57(c) requirements; if you flew a hold, log it.
Logging a sim session as a regular flight to chase IFR currency. The sim qualification rules are specific (§61.51(g) and §61.57(c)(3)). Use the simulator type field on the entry form so the currency math knows it was sim.
Assuming a recent IPC resets the 6-month clock indefinitely. The IPC restores currency, but you still have to maintain it with the standard six approaches, holds, and tracking in subsequent 6-month windows.

What to do when currency lapses

If a card flips to "Expired," here's the operationally cheapest path back:

Day passenger: three takeoffs and three landings, day VMC, in the same category-class. Do them solo or with a CFI. The next 90 days reset.
Night passenger: three full-stop night landings in the same category-class. Solo or with a CFI.
IFR (within 6-month grace): six approaches, holds, and tracking. If you can fly with another instrument-rated pilot acting as safety pilot, you can do most of this VFR with the hood on; the approaches need an actual ATC clearance or a simulated approach on file.
IFR (after 6-month grace, within 12 months): same as above, plus a CFII sign-off.
IFR (more than 12 months): Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) per FAR 61.57(d). Sign-off from CFII required.

DaPilot does not generate the IPC sign-off; that's between you and your instructor. But once the IPC is logged as a flight (with the IPC checkbox in the entry form), the 6-month clock restarts.

Tips from instructors

If you're cutting currency close, log the flight the same day. Backfilling a night flight from memory three days later is the easiest way to misclassify a T&G as full-stop and pretend you're current when you aren't.

If you fly a Cirrus SR22 for currency between Cessna trips, the day and night currency cards will show the SR22 separately. Currency in the C172 does not transfer. This catches pilots who fly mostly one type and assume currency rolls over.

For instructors: tap your CFI card the week before your renewal date. The path through eFIRC is online and takes a weekend if you procrastinate. The next four years are easier when you don't.

Last updated April 27, 2026 · 8 min read