Get current before you get airborne: paperwork first (medical or BasicMed, then a flight review under 61.56), find out what changed in the system while you were gone, review the ground topics that decay fastest, and book time with a CFI who scales the hours to how long you’ve been out. A few hours if you flew last year, ten or more if it’s been fifteen. Here’s the order that actually works.
Paperwork before anything else
Three separate requirements, and people conflate them constantly.
Medical certificate or BasicMed. You can’t act as pilot in command without one of these current. If your most recent FAA medical was issued after July 14, 2006 and hasn’t been revoked, suspended, or denied, BasicMed is worth checking: an online medical education course every 24 calendar months, plus a physical exam using the Comprehensive Medical Examination Checklist (CMEC) from any state-licensed physician every 48 months. No trip to an AME required. If you’ve let your medical lapse entirely or never had one, you’re back to a standard exam. Either way, confirm this before you schedule anything else, because it gates everything downstream.
Flight review, 61.56. This is the one everyone remembers exists. A minimum of 1 hour of flight training and 1 hour of ground training with an authorized instructor, logged with an endorsement, valid for 24 calendar months from the month it’s completed. If you’re genuinely rusty, plan for more than the regulatory minimum. The rule sets a floor, not a target.
Currency, 61.57. Separate from the flight review and separate from each other. To carry passengers you need 3 takeoffs and landings in the preceding 90 days, same category and class of aircraft. To carry passengers at night, 3 more takeoffs and landings to a full stop, at night, in the preceding 90 days. A flight review doesn’t restore either one automatically — you log the takeoffs and landings yourself, with an instructor if you’re not otherwise current. I’ve got the specifics on night and passenger currency broken out separately if that’s the piece you’re rebuilding: see night and passenger currency.
What changed while you were out
Every returning pilot gets surprised by roughly the same handful of things.
ADS-B Out became mandatory in most controlled airspace on January 2, 2020. If your last flight predates that, this is not optional trivia — it affects where you can legally fly without it, and it’s worth confirming your airplane’s equipment before you plan a cross-country back into currency.
Weather and flight planning went digital. DUATS-style dial-in briefings are largely gone in practice. Most pilots now plan through an app — ForeFlight, Garmin Pilot, or similar — pulling METARs, TAFs, radar, and NOTAMs in one place, with 1800wxbrief.com behind the scenes for the official briefing record. If you last flew with paper charts and a phone briefer, budget ground time just to get comfortable in whichever app your CFI or club uses.
TFRs are more frequent and shorter-fuse than they used to be, tied to stadium events, VIP movement, and disaster response. Checking NOTAMs and TFRs is no longer a once-in-a-while step, it’s routine preflight planning.
BasicMed itself didn’t exist before May 2017. If your last medical predates that, it’s a genuinely new option worth understanding, not just a rule change.
Airspace classes, their basic requirements, and sectional chart symbology have stayed largely stable. Don’t assume you need to relearn the whole system — target the specific things that moved.
Ground review that pays off fastest
Before you’re back in the airplane, the ground topics with the highest return on review time:
- Airspace requirements — entry requirements, equipment, and weather minimums for each class, especially Class B and C if your home field sits near one.
- Weight and balance and performance — numbers you used to run without thinking. Redo a few by hand before you trust an app’s output.
- Regulations that bite — currency requirements, medical categories, and anything specific to how you plan to fly (night, IFR, complex or high-performance endorsements if applicable).
- Radio work — especially non-towered fields, where phraseology drifts if you haven’t used it in years.
If you want a starting reference for your own limits while you rebuild currency, a written personal minimums checklist is worth setting up now, before you’re back to your old comfort level, not after.
Finding a CFI and what the hours actually look like
Don’t hunt for the instructor who’ll sign you off fastest. Hunt for one who’ll tell you the truth about where you’re weak. A good instructor for a rusty-pilot checkout does two things: assesses honestly on the first flight instead of assuming, and builds a plan instead of running the same generic pattern-work lesson three times.
Rough ranges reported by pilots and instructors, useful for setting expectations rather than as a rule:
- Under a year off: often 1 to 3 hours, mostly a standard flight review.
- 1 to 2 years off: commonly 3 to 6 hours, covering landings, radio work, and a cross-country.
- 5-plus years off: often 5 to 10 hours, with more emphasis on decision-making and systems knowledge, not just stick-and-rudder.
- 10 to 15-plus years off: frequently 10 to 20+ hours, particularly with lower total time logged originally. At the long end this starts to resemble a fresh checkout more than a review.
None of this is regulatory. It’s what instructors actually see, and your number depends on how much you flew originally, what you fly now, and how sharp your stick-and-rudder skills stayed dormant versus how much they eroded.
Insurance is its own gate
Even once you’re legal, you may not be insured. Most renter and owner policies specify a minimum number of hours flown in the preceding 12 months and a current flight review as conditions of coverage. A multi-year gap commonly triggers an insurer-required checkout with a CFI, sometimes a specific minimum number of hours, independent of what the FAA requires for a flight review. Call your insurer or broker before you book the first flight, not after you’ve already flown it uninsured.
AOPA’s Rusty Pilot program
AOPA runs Rusty Pilot seminars, in person and online, aimed specifically at pilots coming back after time off. They cover regulation changes, airspace, weather sources, and radio procedures in a few hours, and when the seminar is taught by a certificated flight instructor, it satisfies the ground-training portion of your flight review under 61.56(a)(1). You still need the flight portion separately, but it’s a solid, structured way to knock out the ground half and get a head start on what’s changed.
Then fly it like your first solo, not your last flight
Book the discovery flight with your CFI, treat the first few hours as an honest assessment rather than a formality, and don’t let anyone rush the signoff because your logbook says you used to be good at this. Rebuild your personal minimums as you go rather than defaulting to whatever they were years ago — your currency, and your judgment under pressure, are both starting from where you actually are today, not where you left off. Once you’re current, a Cessna 172 checklist or whichever template matches your airplane is a good way to rebuild the habit of running one every flight, not just for the checkride. And if you want to build and print your own from scratch, the app is free to start with.
Common questions
Do I need a new medical to start flying again?
You need a current medical or BasicMed eligibility before you fly as pilot in command, so check it first. If your last FAA medical was issued after July 14, 2006 and hasn't been revoked, suspended, or denied, BasicMed is usually the faster path: an online medical education course plus a physical using the Comprehensive Medical Examination Checklist from any state-licensed physician. If you've never held an FAA medical, you'll need a new one from an AME.
How many hours will I need with an instructor to get current again?
It scales with time away, not a fixed number. A pilot who flew last month might knock out a flight review in an hour. Two years off often runs 3 to 6 hours. Five-plus years commonly runs 5 to 10. Fifteen years or more, especially with low total time, can run 10 to 20+ hours, closer to a fresh checkout than a review. Your instructor sets the real number, not a rule of thumb.
What is the AOPA Rusty Pilot program?
It's a seminar, run in person and online, built specifically for pilots returning after a break. It covers regulation changes, airspace, weather sources, and radio work, and when taught by a CFI it satisfies the ground portion of your flight review under 61.56(a)(1). The flight portion still has to happen separately with an instructor.
Does my old insurance still cover me if I haven't flown in years?
Almost never automatically. Most policies list minimum recent hours and a current flight review as conditions of coverage, and a long gap usually triggers an insurer-required checkout with a CFI regardless of what the FAA requires. Call your insurer or broker before you fly, not after.
What's changed in aviation while I was away from flying?
The most common surprises: ADS-B Out is now required in most controlled airspace (since January 2020), paper weather briefings have largely moved to apps like ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot, TFRs are more frequent and often shorter-notice, and BasicMed exists as a medical alternative that didn't exist before 2017. Airspace class boundaries themselves have mostly stayed the same.