Night passenger currency

Model: Each event counts when its time lies from 1 hour after that evening's sunset to 1 hour before the next sunrise at its place (the sun's centre at −0.8333°, NREL SPA); a time before noon belongs to the night that began the evening before. Per category and class, current through the 90th day after the older of the third most recent qualifying takeoff and the third most recent qualifying full-stop landing on or before the date

Show your work

1. Qualifying events

   inside 1 hour after sunset to 1 hour before sunrise at each place

   3 logged = 3 qualify

2. Current through

   older of the third most recent qualifying takeoff and landing + 90 days

   as of 2026-07-15 = 2026-07-30

The same steps an agent gets from the MCP server with explain: true.

Accuracy: Sun times within about a minute of USNO; an event within a minute of the boundary is worth checking against the Air Almanac. Planning aid: your logbook and 61.57 govern, including simulator credit this does not count

When to use this: Use this to see which of your logged night takeoffs and full-stop landings actually count toward 14 CFR 61.57(b), whether you are current to carry passengers at night on a date, and the day that currency lapses -- per category and class, from the times and places you flew.

Limitations: This is a planning aid. Your logbook and the regulation govern, and simulator credit, which 61.57(c) allows in some cases, is not counted here. Sun times are within about a minute of USNO, so an event within a minute of the one-hour boundary is worth checking against the Air Almanac, which is the legal source. At high latitudes in summer the period can be empty -- the sun never gets low enough -- and then nothing counts, which is the correct answer. The count reported is of qualifying events in the 90 days before the date asked about, which is a narrower window than the events that set the lapse date.

Worked example: Three night landings near Denver, checked on 2026-07-15. Source: add-practitioner-essentials currency scenario: landings on May 1, May 10, and June 2 give currency through July 30, 2026. It is golden test vector v001, and every build checks the tool still gives its answer within its tolerance.

Review: Not yet independently reviewed by a geodesist.

Last verified: 2026-09-18, when a maintainer last confirmed this tool's sources at the issuer. See the sources ledger.

Status: version 1.0.0, core 0.1.0. See this tool in the verification report.

Checked against: 22 golden test vectors (download the test vectors, each with its source and tolerance). See how results are checked and every source.

Sources

• 14 CFR 61.57(b), Night takeoff and landing experience, Federal Aviation Administration, Reviewed 2026-09-18. Three takeoffs and three full-stop landings from 1 hour after sunset to 1 hour before sunrise, within the preceding 90 days. Read free. Rules as of 2026-09-18.