Most pilots know they need a flight review every two years. What fewer realize is that "every two years" isn't quite how the regulation works — and the difference matters more than you'd think.
Here's what 14 CFR 61.56 actually says, why the common understanding of it is slightly wrong, and my honest take on how often you should really be doing one.
What the Regulation Actually Says
The requirement is every 24 calendar months — not every two years to the day.
That distinction is significant. If you complete your flight review on April 15, 2026, your currency doesn't expire on April 15, 2028. It expires at the end of April 2028 — the last day of that calendar month. You actually get a little extra time.
But here's where pilots consistently get caught: the clock resets from the month the review is completed, not the specific date. So if your last review was on April 30th, you're current through the end of April two years later. If it was April 1st, same thing — you're current through the end of April two years later. The day doesn't matter. The month does.
This catches pilots off guard more often than you'd expect. Someone checks their logbook, sees their review was completed in April 2024, assumes they have until April 2026, and then gets fuzzy on whether they're still current in early May. The answer is no — they lapsed at midnight on April 30th.
What Counts as a Flight Review
The minimum requirement is one hour of ground instruction and one hour of flight instruction with a certificated flight instructor. The ground portion covers Part 61 and Part 91 regulations. The flight portion is at the discretion of the CFI based on your experience and currency.
A few things that also satisfy the flight review requirement and are worth knowing:
- Completing a proficiency check — if you complete a Part 135 or Part 121 proficiency check, that satisfies the flight review requirement
- Completing a practical test — if you add a rating or certificate, the checkride counts as your flight review
- Completing certain FAA Wings phases — the FAA Wings Pilot Proficiency Program can satisfy the flight review requirement if you complete the required activities
None of these are shortcuts. They're legitimate alternatives that some pilots don't know exist.
What Doesn't Count
No matter how much you've flown, flying currency alone doesn't reset the flight review clock. You can fly 200 hours between reviews and still need a review at the 24-month mark. Flight time and flight review currency are separate things.
Also worth noting: a flight review is not the same as instrument currency. If you're instrument rated, you have a separate currency requirement — six instrument approaches, holding, and intercepting and tracking within the preceding six calendar months. Letting your instrument currency lapse doesn't affect your flight review currency, and vice versa.
What Happens If You Let It Lapse
You can't legally act as pilot in command. That's it — you're grounded as PIC until you complete a flight review.
There's no grace period, no extension process, no paperwork to file. You simply need to complete a flight review with a CFI, get the logbook endorsement, and you're current again from that month forward.
If your review has lapsed along with your medical, you'll need to sort the medical first — you can receive dual instruction with an expired medical, but you can't solo or act as PIC until both are current.
How Often Should You Actually Do One?
The regulation sets a floor, not a ceiling. Twenty-four calendar months is the minimum legal requirement. It says nothing about what's actually appropriate for staying sharp.
My honest take: if you're serious about staying proficient, once every two years isn't enough. A pilot who flies 50 hours a year is a different situation than one who flies 10. But even the 50-hour pilot has probably developed habits — some good, some not — that a fresh set of eyes would catch.
I'd recommend thinking about a flight review the way you think about a good debrief. Not something you do to check a box, but something you do to find out what you don't know you don't know. The CFI conducting your review has seen things go wrong that you haven't. That perspective is worth more than the endorsement.
The pilots I've seen get the most out of a flight review are the ones who come in curious rather than defensive — who treat it as an opportunity to learn something rather than a test to survive. Those pilots often leave with two or three things they're going to do differently, regardless of how long they've been flying.
That's what the review is actually for.
If your flight review is coming due — or already overdue — I conduct flight reviews out of KBAF in Springfield, Massachusetts. Book online at andrewserrazina.com/flight-review — live availability, $150 per session.