Ninety-Day Passenger Currency and a Weekend Trip
You hold a PPL(A) issued by the MCAA. Your Class 2 medical certificate is valid until 28 February, your aircraft’s certificate of airworthiness and insurance are valid, and the next maintenance check is due in 10 flight hours. You last flew 95 days ago. Your last three take-offs and landings were 110 days ago in the same aircraft type, all during the day. You plan a Saturday morning flight with two friends from your home airfield, 1.5 hours local VFR, no remuneration, weather CAVOK. The aircraft is serviceable and fuelled to the tabs. Your friend asks whether he can bring his 12-year-old son, making three passengers. The aircraft has four seats and MTOW will not be exceeded. You have not flown at night for six months and have no instrument rating.
1. Can the flight legally carry the two friends as planned? Explain the specific rule and the numbers that decide it.
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No. To carry passengers, the pilot must have made at least three take-offs and three landings in the preceding 90 days in the same category and class of aircraft. The last three were 110 days ago, so the 90-day window expired 20 days before the planned flight. The flight being day VFR means the night passenger-currency rule is not the issue; the basic 90-day rule is. A valid medical certificate, C of A and insurance do not cure the recency gap. The planned flight is therefore not legal with passengers until recency is restored.
2. What is the minimum legal way to restore passenger currency before Saturday, and what aircraft checks still matter?
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The minimum is three take-offs and landings in the same category and class within the 90 days before the flight. Solo circuits in the aircraft are acceptable, or circuits with an instructor; they do not have to be a test. After the third landing, passenger currency is restored for day flight. Before flying, confirm the maintenance check is not overdue: 10 hours remaining and a 1.5-hour flight leaves 8.5 hours, so it is not a blocker. Re-check medical validity, C of A, insurance and weight and balance. Do not combine the currency circuits with passengers.
3. If you complete the three circuits on Friday, the child’s parent asks whether the boy needs anything special. What operational and legal points apply?
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The child is an additional passenger, so the same currency rule applies; there is no separate minimum age in the regulation. Operationally, brief the child on seat belts, doors and emergency exits; secure him in an approved seat or restraint appropriate to his size; check weight and balance with three passengers; and ensure no remuneration is involved. If the child cannot be properly restrained, do not carry him. The pilot remains responsible for passenger safety throughout the flight.