FAA Sport Pilot Airplane (SPA)RegulationsMedium
A sport pilot who wants to carry a passenger on a flight must comply with the same recent flight experience requirements as other pilots. Within the preceding 90 days, the pilot must have made at least
- Aa flight review with an authorized instructor
- Bfive hours of solo flight time in the same category and class
- Cone takeoff and landing to a full stop at night
- Dthree takeoffs and landings as the sole manipulator of the flight controls
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. three takeoffs and landings as the sole manipulator of the flight controls
14 CFR 61.57(a) requires that to carry passengers, a pilot must have made at least three takeoffs and landings within the preceding 90 days as the sole manipulator of the controls in an aircraft of the same category, class, and if a type rating is required, type. Since sport pilots may not fly at night, the night landing requirement does not apply to them.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. A flight review is a 24-month requirement (61.56), not the 90-day passenger currency rule.
- B. There is no 5-hour solo requirement tied to passenger currency.
- C. Sport pilots cannot fly at night, so this requirement is inapplicable.
Passenger-Carrying Currency (61.57)
To carry passengers, a pilot must have completed 3 takeoffs and landings in the preceding 90 days as sole manipulator of the controls in the same category/class aircraft.
- Day currency: 3 takeoffs/landings in 90 days
- Night currency (to full stop) not applicable to sport pilots
- Separate from the 24-month flight review requirement
Memory trick: 'Three landings, ninety days, passengers ride today.'