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Logging hours as a CFI

Asked by: 2210 views ,
Commercial Pilot, FAA Regulations, Flight Instructor

Hello all,

I am getting ready to head to ATP-CTP soon and was totaling up my log book and realized I haven’t logged a landing in a while. I have flight instructed for the majority of my hours teaching instrument and commercial students. I realized that I haven’t been “90 day current” in a little while due to the fact that my students take the majority of the landings. From my understanding I don’t have to be “landing current” to log the instruction that has been given up to this point including logging PIC. Is that accurate or do all of the hours I have logged teaching past my currency date not count? 

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1 Answers



  1. Bryan on Jun 16, 2022

    Regardless of the currency requirements in 61.57, you can log the time as PIC when you are instructing under 61.51(e)(3) which says, “A certificated flight instructor may log pilot in command flight time for all flight time while serving as the authorized instructor in an operation if the instructor is rated to act as pilot in command of that aircraft.” So no worries filling out your logbook–it all counts.

    61.57 only comes into play if there are passengers or the plane requires multiple crew members. Even then, it would only stop you from being the PIC under those conditions.

    The bottom line is that for instructors, 61.57(a)(1) cannot undo 61.51(e)(3). The flight might have not complied with 61.57 (a)(1) because your 20-hour private student brought their kid to ride in the back seat. But you can still log that flight as PIC time under 61.51(e)(3).

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