Currency
“Currency” is the most-asked-about word in the IBA. It does not mean money. It means: is this member up to date on the requirements for their role?
A member with active currency is in good standing — flights are logged, skills can progress, and instructors can approve their work. A member whose currency has lapsed is paused: the platform still loves them, but no flight time goes onto the official record until they renew.
The important thing to understand: currency works differently for different roles. There isn’t one rule. There are several.
How currency works per role
| Role | What keeps you current | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Flyer | Flying often enough | Activity-based (180-day rule) |
| Instructor | Recurrent safety training each cycle | Six-month cycles |
| Trainer | Annual training | Once a year |
| Examiner | Annual training | Once a year |
| Coach | Recurrent training | Per-cycle (similar to instructor) |
| Military | Military-specific recurrent training | Separate cycle |
Members with several roles run several currencies in parallel. An instructor has both flyer currency (activity-based) and instructor currency (cycle-based) at the same time, and they tick down on different clocks.
Flyer currency — activity-based
Flyer currency is about getting tunnel time. As long as a flyer flies often enough, currency stays active without any training event.
The platform tracks each flyer’s last logged flight and runs a daily cron job that checks the gap:
| Days since last flight | What happens |
|---|---|
| 150 days | One-month warning email — get to a tunnel soon |
| 172 days | Final week warning |
| 180 days | Currency lapses — flyer is marked uncurrent |
A flyer who lapses doesn’t have to wait six months to get back. They have two paths to regain currency:
- Get back in the air. Logging fresh flight time at any IBA tunnel re-establishes activity.
- Refresher / recurrent course. A short refresher run by a qualified instructor restores currency without needing the activity threshold met.
A flyer needs to be at Level 1 to be eligible for currency at all (Flyer Safety Brief alone doesn’t qualify). Currency at higher levels is layered: Level 3 currency requires Level 3 skills kept current, not just Level 1.
Instructor currency — six-month cycle
Instructors run on a strict calendar cycle:
| Cycle | Period |
|---|---|
| Cycle 1 | January 16 → July 16 |
| Cycle 2 | July 16 → January 16 |
Two months before each cycle changes over (December 16 and June 16) the platform sends every instructor a heads-up that their currency is about to expire. They have a window to complete recurrent training and stay current; if they miss it, currency lapses and the regain process kicks in.
Each cycle, an instructor must complete the safety training for every level they’re authorised at. An Instructor Level 4 doesn’t get to skip Level 1, 2, or 3 training — they do the full stack each cycle.
Required per cycle:
- A status checkbox (Maintain or Regain, depending on whether the instructor was current going in).
- Safety meeting participation.
- Level-specific training for each level the instructor holds.
Instructor grace period and bridging
The system is forgiving at the edges of an instructor cycle:
- Last-month renewal — an instructor who completes recurrent training in the final month of a cycle is credited for both the current and the next cycle. Renewing in the last month of Cycle 2 keeps them current through the end of Cycle 1 the following year.
- Recovery within 5 months — an instructor who lapses but completes recurrent training within five months of the lapse is reinstated for the rest of the current cycle.
- Beyond five months — instructor currency must be re-earned from the start of the next cycle as if it were initial.
These rules live in /business-logic/currency/ if you want the exact
algorithm.
Trainer currency — annual
Trainers refresh once a year. The cadence is annual rather than six-month because trainers are themselves the people running instructor training, and the IBA’s view is that trainers don’t need to be re-run twice a year through their own programme.
When a trainer’s annual currency lapses, their authority to certify instructors pauses until they renew — same shape as instructor lapse, just on a longer clock.
Examiner currency — annual
Examiners follow the same annual cadence as trainers. Examiner currency gates the highest-trust signatures on the platform (level assessments, formal qualifications), so when it lapses the consequences are the biggest: assessments can’t be run until the examiner’s currency is restored.
Coach currency
Coaches have their own currency, separate from instructor and trainer ratings. A member can be a current coach without being a current instructor and vice-versa. Coach currency uses the same cycle-based approach as instructors.
Military currency
Military members have their own currency programme — separate tables
(channel_currency_military), separate checkboxes, separate trainers.
The cadence and rules differ from civilian programmes because the
military partners they serve have their own training regimes. See
Military skill programme for the
shape of it.
Why this matters (the gates)
A handful of platform behaviours hinge on currency:
- Logbook entries are gated on flyer currency. A wind tunnel sends through a booking for a flyer whose currency has lapsed — no logbook entry is created. The flyer is emailed a recurrent-training link instead.
- Skill approvals are gated on instructor currency. If an instructor forgets to renew, their approvals stop counting until they do.
- Level assessments are gated on examiner (and trainer) currency. A lapsed examiner can’t run a Level 4 assessment.
Currency is how the IBA enforces “everyone teaching, being taught, and being assessed is demonstrably trained, right now”. It’s strict on purpose.