Does night currency count for day currency?

[SkyHog]

I know day currency certainly doesn't count for night currency, but what about the other way around?

Similarly, does taildragger currency count for non-TD currency?

 

[Tristar]

According to how I understand the FARs night currency transfers to day. 61.57 does not specify that these landings must take place during the day in order for you to be day current. It just says that you must have three take offs and landings within the preceding 90 days, must be sole manipulator, same category/class/type etc. The night exception is a different part and thus must be separated. Night is clearly defined as 1 hour after sunset to 1 hour before sunrise. There is a couple things to keep in mind, landings at night must be to a full stop no matter what you fly. However, to be current in your taildragger, you still must have 3 takeoffs and landings to a full stop. This leads me to your next question: "does taildragger count for non-taildragger currency?" Part 61.57b says nothing about your night landings having to be in accordance to whether your airplane is a taildragger or tri-gear, it just says it must be the same category, class and type. Therefor if you have done three stop and goes in your cub in the preceding 90 days and 3 full stop landings in your 172 at night, you're free to take passengers at night in your piper cub. One last thing, just because you came back from a trip and day has turned to night, you do 3 full stops, it doesn't mean your'e current. You must have 3 take offs at night as well.

Of course keep in mind, you can take off after 10 years, for example, and have no recent flight experience and be perfectly legal flying by yourself...I dont advise it though.

 

[Ted]

Of course keep in mind, you can take off after 10 years, for example, and have no recent flight experience and be perfectly legal flying by yourself...I dont advise it though.

Provided you've had your flight review (or something else that qualifies such as a new rating) within the past 24 months and have a current medical, so you would have at least had some sort of recent flight experience within the past 24 months. I can't say it seems like a good idea to have not flown for 23 months and then go do your 3 touch-and-gos to get current and then go on a trip, though.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

Provided you've had your flight review (or something else that qualifies such as a new rating) within the past 24 months and have a current medical, so you would have at least had some sort of recent flight experience within the past 24 months. I can't say it seems like a good idea to have not flown for 23 months and then go do your 3 touch-and-gos to get current and then go on a trip, though.

Ya gotta start somewhere. But, yea, just because it's legal...

3 full stops with conventional gear at night gets you current for night and day, and also for airplanes with the tailwheel on the wrong end.

 

[SkyHog]

So then - 3 full stops/takeoffs in a taildragger at night kills all three at once, right?

 

[Greebo]

So then - 3 full stops/takeoffs in a taildragger at night kills all three at once, right?

Correct, but it's a one directional application for both. Night counts for day, TD counts for Trike.

 

[t0r0nad0]

So then - 3 full stops/takeoffs in a taildragger at night kills all three at once, right?

For the purposes of the light GA aircraft that the likes of us fly, yes.

Now that your question is answered, I'm going to flood the thread with more info that doesn't really apply to the original poster's question, as we are wont to do on this forum:

If the aircraft you're flying requires a type rating, you must have 3 takeoff's/landings within 90 days in that type to be current. Meaning that you can't do 3 night stop & go's in your Husky and then go jump in a Citation PiperJet/Cirrus SJ50 Vision that you haven't flown for 4 months and take passengers. Likewise, if you fly a Citation PiperJet/Cirrus SJ50 Vision daily, but you haven't flown your Husky for more than 3 months, you need to go do 3 stop & go's before you can take passengers in it. On the other hand, if you fly a B-17 on a regular basis and do 3 night takeoffs and landings to a full stop, that takes care of your currency for day and night flight with passengers for any taildragger and trike, so long as a type rating is not required.

Now, I have a separate question... if you do 3 takeoffs/landings in a AMEL, are you current for ASEL too?

 

[Everskyward]

Likewise, if you fly a Citation daily for a living, but you haven't flown your Husky for more than 3 months, you need to go do 3 stop & go's before you can take passengers in it.

That has more to do with the fact that the Citation is multiengine and the Husky is single engine than the fact that you need a type rating to fly the Citation. If you substituted an Aztec for the Husky you would be OK.

 

[Ted]

Now, I have a separate question... if you do 3 takeoffs/landings in a AMEL, are you current for ASEL too?

No, because it is a different category and class of aircraft. Currency is for category and class. If a type rating is required, they need to be in that type. But, as I understand it, if I have a type rating in a Lear 24 and do my 3 required takeoffs and landings, I am then current in the Aztec since they are both multi engine land aircraft. I am not current in the Lear if I do 3 takeoffs and landings in the Aztec.

Tailwheels are still same category and class as their tricycle gear counterparts, hence why that works.

So, let's say after having not flown anything for 100 days, I get a call at 9 PM for an emergency puppy rescue (stranger things have happened). I get home at 4 AM, having made three night take-offs and landings. I'm now night (and day) current in the Aztec.

A week later, I get a visit from a friend who I want to take flying. Since this is a pleasure flight and this person's first time in a small plane, I figure I'll take the Archer, no need to burn 28 gph. No can do until I've done my 3 take-offs and landings. So, if you fly a B-17 regularly (in which case I'm very jealous), you still can't fly your Piper Cub with passengers until you go up and do your 3 stop-and-gos.

I have a few friends who are multi engine current, but haven't been single engine current in years.

 

[Ted]

That has more to do with the fact that the Citation is multiengine and the Husky is single engine than the fact that you need a type rating to fly the Citation. If you substituted an Aztec for the Husky you would be OK.

Beat me to it!

 

[t0r0nad0]

That has more to do with the fact that the Citation is multiengine and the Husky is single engine than the fact that you need a type rating to fly the Citation. If you substituted an Aztec for the Husky you would be OK.

Oops! You're right... scratch Citation and insert PiperJet instead or Cirrus Vision instead.

No, because it is a different category and class of aircraft. Currency is for category and class. If a type rating is required, they need to be in that type. But, as I understand it, if I have a type rating in a Lear 24 and do my 3 required takeoffs and landings, I am then current in the Aztec since they are both multi engine land aircraft. I am not current in the Lear if I do 3 takeoffs and landings in the Aztec.

Tailwheels are still same category and class as their tricycle gear counterparts, hence why that works.

So, let's say after having not flown anything for 100 days, I get a call at 9 PM for an emergency puppy rescue (stranger things have happened). I get home at 4 AM, having made three night take-offs and landings. I'm now night (and day) current in the Aztec.

A week later, I get a visit from a friend who I want to take flying. Since this is a pleasure flight and this person's first time in a small plane, I figure I'll take the Archer, no need to burn 28 gph. No can do until I've done my 3 take-offs and landings.

I have a few friends who are multi engine current, but haven't been single engine current in years.

Understood... thanks!

 

[Everskyward]

I have a few friends who are multi engine current, but haven't been single engine current in years.

I would be one of them.

I went about 8 years without being single-engine current until I took some aerobatic lessons a couple years ago. Now I am almost two years out of single-engine currency again.

 

[Everskyward]

Provided you've had your flight review (or something else that qualifies such as a new rating) within the past 24 months and have a current medical, so you would have at least had some sort of recent flight experience within the past 24 months.

There can be some weird loopholes, though. I have a helicopter rating but I have not flown one in 10 years. I also have a current FR in a multiengine airplane. That means that I can legally go out an solo a helicopter. This would not be a good idea.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

If the aircraft you're flying requires a type rating, you must have 3 takeoff's/landings within 90 days in that type to be current. Meaning that you can't do 3 night stop & go's in your Husky and then go jump in a Citation PiperJet/Cirrus SJ50 Vision that you haven't flown for 4 months and take passengers. Likewise, if you fly a Citation PiperJet/Cirrus SJ50 Vision daily, but you haven't flown your Husky for more than 3 months, you need to go do 3 stop & go's before you can take passengers in it.

But if you had a 172 instead of a Husky, you'd be good to go... The only reason the SJ50 or PiperJet wouldn't count for the Husky is that they're not taildraggers.

Now, I have a separate question... if you do 3 takeoffs/landings in a AMEL, are you current for ASEL too?

Nope:

(a) General experience. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section, no person may act as a pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers or of an aircraft certificated for more than one pilot flight crewmember unless that person has made at least three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days, and—

(i) The person acted as the sole manipulator of the flight controls; and

(ii) The required takeoffs and landings were performed in an aircraft of the same category, class, and type (if a type rating is required), and, if the aircraft to be flown is an airplane with a tailwheel, the takeoffs and landings must have been made to a full stop in an airplane with a tailwheel.

 

[jpflys]

So then - 3 full stops/takeoffs in a taildragger at night kills all three at once, right?

But, Most tail draggers are 2 seaters, so the most that would killed is 2. ( unless you hit a school bus )

 

[Tristar]

Provided you've had your flight review (or something else that qualifies such as a new rating) within the past 24 months and have a current medical, so you would have at least had some sort of recent flight experience within the past 24 months. I can't say it seems like a good idea to have not flown for 23 months and then go do your 3 touch-and-gos to get current and then go on a trip, though.

Technicalities...

 

[Ted]

I would be one of them.

I went about 8 years without being single-engine current until I took some aerobatic lessons a couple years ago. Now I am almost two years out of single-engine currency again.

Sure enough! I'd forgotten that you don't fly singles much at all. I was thinking of a few folks around here who fly some of the twins. One guy I know has an Aztec and also flies a Navajo. He has his ATP-AMEL-IA and PP-ASEL-IA, hasn't flown a single (or had a need to) in years, although I don't know how many years that is. Certainly less of a jump between an Aztec/Navajo and a Cherokee than a Citation and a 172.

 

[Ted]

Technicalities...

Indeed! But as Mari points out...

There can be some weird loopholes, though. I have a helicopter rating but I have not flown one in 10 years. I also have a current FR in a multiengine airplane. That means that I can legally go out an solo a helicopter. This would not be a good idea.

I hadn't thought about that at all. That definitely would not be a good idea.

Even if I jump in the Archer, a plane that I have about 140 hours in, having flown the Mooney and the Aztec just about exclusively for the past 6 months, I notice that flying the Archer is not as good as I think it ought to be for the first few minutes. Certainly it is not as precise as when the Archer was the only plane I flew. It comes back quickly and I'm not unsafe, but I still notice the difference. If nothing else, it doesn't take long of me flying the Aztec to the hop in the Mooney, put the power forward for takeoff, and wonder "What's wrong with this thing?!" as its takeoff roll and climb performance are significantly less than the Aztec's.