Currency Requirements

Overview

Expired medical certificates and lapsed BFRs are a genuine safety risk in club environments — and also a liability exposure for the club itself. The problem isn't that pilots intend to fly out of currency; it's that life gets busy and expiration dates creep up unnoticed. A pilot who flew their BFR two years ago may not realize their 24 calendar months are nearly up until they show up to fly.

Centerline addresses this with automated, configurable currency reminders. When members enter their certificate expiration dates in their profile, the system tracks those dates and sends reminder notifications ahead of expiration. You control how far in advance reminders go out by setting grace periods — and you can also configure a grace window during which reservations remain permitted even after the expiration date, giving pilots a brief runway to complete a renewal without losing access entirely.

This system doesn't replace a club's responsibility to verify currency before flight, but it dramatically reduces the odds of a lapse going unnoticed. When pilots receive a reminder 30 days out, they have time to schedule their flight review with a CFI rather than scrambling at the last minute.

Required Role

You must have the Account Owner role to configure currency requirements.

Accessing Settings

Click Setup in the navigation bar, then select the Rules tab. Currency settings appear in the Currencies card on the right side of the page.

Certificate Types

Centerline tracks three types of pilot currency:

Medical Certificate

Members enter their medical certificate expiration date in their profile. The system sends a reminder email before expiration. The Medical Grace Period field lets you configure how many days after expiration a member can still make reservations before access is blocked.

Most third-class medicals expire after 24 or 60 calendar months depending on the pilot's age. BasicMed users may not have a traditional medical at all — your club can decide how to handle those members by adjusting or omitting the grace period.

Biennial Flight Review (BFR)

Members enter their most recent BFR completion date. The system calculates the expiration (24 calendar months from the recorded date) and sends reminders. The BFR Grace Period configures how many days after expiration reservations are still permitted.

Club Review

Many clubs require periodic checkout flights or review sessions beyond the FAA's BFR requirement — particularly when a club has high-performance aircraft, complex aircraft, or wants to ensure proficiency in club-specific procedures. Members enter their most recent club review date, and Centerline tracks expiration the same way as BFR.

The Club Review Grace Period works identically to the BFR grace period. Leave this blank if your club doesn't have a club review requirement.

Grace Periods Explained

Grace periods serve two purposes:

1. Booking buffer: A member whose medical expired yesterday can still book a reservation for next week — giving them time to renew before the flight without being completely locked out of the system.
2. Reminder lead time: The number of days in the grace period also determines how early in advance reminder notifications are sent. Setting a 30-day grace period means members receive their first reminder approximately 30 days before expiration.

A value of 0 means reservations are blocked immediately on the expiration date with no grace. Leave a field blank to have no restriction for that certificate type.

Common configurations:

• Medical grace: 30–60 days (enough time to schedule and complete a medical exam)
• BFR grace: 30–60 days (enough time to schedule a flight review with a CFI)
• Club Review grace: 14–30 days (shorter since it's typically easier to schedule than an FAA requirement)

How Reminders Are Sent

1. Members enter their certificate expiration dates in their Profile page.
2. Centerline's daily background job calculates upcoming expirations.
3. Members with certificates expiring within the configured grace period window receive a reminder email.
4. Reminders are only sent to members who have enabled certificate reminder notifications in their notification preferences.
5. Members can see their current certificate status (current, expiring soon, expired) on their profile page at any time.

Tips

• 30–60 days is appropriate for most clubs for medical and BFR reminders. Pilots need lead time to schedule with a doctor or CFI, especially if they're in an area with limited availability.
• Encourage members to update their certificate dates promptly after renewals. A pilot who completed their BFR last week but hasn't updated their profile will continue receiving reminders.
• If your club is moving to Centerline from a system that tracked certificate dates, import that data using the CSV importer (Setup > Data & Features > Import Data). The importer supports medical certificate expiration, BFR expiration, and club review expiration.
• The club review requirement is particularly useful for complex or high-performance aircraft. You can pair it with restricted aircraft permissions so only members who are current on their club review can book specific aircraft.
• Set grace periods before your members start entering their certificate dates, so the reminder schedule is configured correctly from the start.