61.37 Recent flight experience

[steve181]

'a person who holds a private pilot licence must not act as pilot in-command of an aircraft carrying a passenger during the day, unless within the immediately preceding 90 days,—(1) the person has carried out (as pilot-in-command of an aircraft or an approved synthetic flight trainer of the same type) not less than 3 take-offs and 3 landings during the day'

If you haven't done 3 take-offs and 3 landings during the day in the preceding 90 days can you just do 3 solo take-offs & landings then you can act as P.I.C carrying pax? The rule implies you can do this otherwise it would have said; 'you must not act as pilot in-command of an aircraft during the day' & not included the 'carrying a passenger' part.

I always assumed if I hadn't done 3 take-offs and 3 landings during the day within the immediately preceding 90 days I had to; "satisfactorily demonstrated to an appropriately qualified Category A or B flight instructor competence in takeoff and landing manoeuvres during the day in an aircraft of the same type' but after reviewing the rule it seems I can avoid going up with an instructor if I fly solo as mentioned above?

It doesn't seem right though because in theory you could get your B.F.R & not fly at all until say a week before your next B.F.R then so long as you did 3 t/o + ldg solo with a current medical you would be good to go with pax

Cheers

[AerocatS2A]

You just go and do 3 circuits solo, or however many you need to meet the requirement.

One week before your BFR you are legally just as competent as you were just after you did your last BFR.

What it comes down to is that the CAA don't give a crap if you stuff up a landing by yourself but they don't want to have anything to do with you stuffing up a landing with pax on board. So they say you must be vaguely current--how current are you really if you did 3 take-offs and landings 89 days ago?

So you go and do some circuits by yourself, any stuff ups will be at your own risk and by the time the pax jump in you should've ironed out any creases in your technique ;).

Recency requirements don't always make sense by the way. Consider that you can maintain IF currency by flying in cloud on autopilot while you flick through the latest issue of the Flight Safety mag.

[VH-XXX]

It can be a bit of a pain that reg. Situation recently where a mate hadn't flown for over 6 months and he wasn't feeling confident. Problem is that he can't take a full PPL or CPL as a passenger because he hasn't got his recency so his only option would be to find an instructor even though the PPL or CPL could happily be PIC from the Right Hand Seat if required.

[FokkerInYour12]

If your mate can't afford an additional $80-$100 for an hour of circuits with an instructor he shouldn't be flying.

[VH-XXX]

It's ok for those that fly from GAAP's and the like to just find an instructor and pay "$80-$100 an hour," but for many pilots in his situation, finding an instructor could be a matter of several hours drive in each direction - hence the frustration of this rule if you are going to do things by the book. For the record he has heaps of cash, no issue there, it's logistical.

[mcgrath50]

You don't need an instructor to do the 3 circuits though do you?

[steve181]

mcgrath50 VH-XXX is saying that his mate wasn't confident flying solo since it had been 6 months which is fair enough but legally he could do 3 solo circuits so long as he had a current medical basically.

I do find it bizarre how someone can fly legally after not flying even 1 year after a BFR so long as they have a current medical. 3 solo circuits then they are good to go with a plane full of pax!

I'm not complaining but it seems like a very relaxed law when a lot of other aviation related things are quite restrictive!

[FokkerInYour12]

Sounds like a great excuse to get a lift to the aerodrome and to share a navex with another pilot (i.e. guy flies himself back to home and gets current, other pilot/student flies navex back to airfield).

I've quite often done my BFR flying the instructor to another place so the instructor can do something down there with another pilot. Last one was IFR renewal actually in the bushfire smoke over Busselton.

[DickyPearse]

I do find it bizarre how someone can fly legally after not flying even 1 year after a BFR so long as they have a current medical. 3 solo circuits then they are good to go with a plane full of pax!



If you are hiring an aircraft the insurance requirements would probably limit your ability to fly after an extended period of not flying - with or without passengers.