The instrument rating is widely acknowledged to be one of the toughest ratings to acquire. Once you earn it, you’ll likely get more utility out of it than any other rating or certificate you could name.
That utility is a double-edged sword, unfortunately, for if you do not continue to practice and hone your hard-won skills, you could find yourself in a dangerous situation trying to keep your airplane right side up in the clouds.
That’s why the federal aviation regulations prescribe specific currency requirements—to provide a baseline on your proficiency. If you aren’t able to keep up with those requirements, the FARs have a prescription for that as well: a strong dose of medicine known as an instrument proficiency check.
Six in six. FAR 61.57(c) lays it out: Within six calendar months preceding a planned instrument flight—IFR conditions or not—you must have logged six instrument approaches, including holding procedures and intercepting and tracking courses using navigational electronic systems (if flying an aircraft). To carry passengers, you also must have completed three takeoffs and landings within the preceding 90 days in the same category/class of aircraft you plan to fly, and your flight review and medical certificate must be current.
You can meet currency requirements by “flying” an aviation training device (ATD) so long as an authorized instructor is present. If using an ATD only, FAR 61.57(c) specifies that within the two calendar months preceding the flight, you must have completed three hours of instrument experience in an airplane; the six instrument approaches; holding, intercepting, and tracking; and two unusual attitude recoveries while in a descending, VNE airspeed condition and two unusual attitude recoveries in an ascending, stall-speed condition.
FAR 61.57(c)(4) describes additional situations that enable you to use a combination of an ATD and an airplane to fulfill your currency requirements.
Sounds pretty straightforward. But for many pilots, those six months come and go and the six approaches don’t happen. Then what?
The regulations don’t slam the door on your rating at that point. Instead, you get a bit of a reprieve: After that first six months, you have another six months in which to regain currency. You can do that by flying under the hood in visual meteorological conditions with a safety pilot, or using a flight training device or ATD. You cannot act as a pilot in command on an IFR flight until you’ve regained your currency.
Let’s say that you did not get current within that second, six-month time frame. Now what? You need an instrument proficiency check, or IPC.
Check, or checkride? An instrument proficiency “check” sounds like a pro forma exercise, but the IPC is anything but that. The requirements are listed in the practical test standards for the instrument rating. That’s important to note because you will be held to PTS standards. An IPC can be administered by an appropriately rated flight instructor, an FAA designated pilot examiner, or an FAA inspector.
Here’s a distilled list of what you will need to demonstrate in the flight portion. The complete set of tasks can be found in the Instrument Rating Practical Test Standards.
- Holding
- Unusual attitudes
- Intercepting and tracking
- Precision, nonprecision, circling, and missed approaches, with one landing
- Partial-panel approach
- Lost communications procedures
An IPC can be completed entirely in an aircraft, or it can be conducted using an ATD so long as at least the circling approach is flown in an aircraft.
Just as you cannot fail a flight review, you cannot fail an IPC—but if you are deficient in any areas the person administering your IPC can require you to fly with him or her again before signing your logbook.
Currency versus proficiency. “Both in my personal experience and from what I’ve seen in other pilots, instrument skills seem to be the first to deteriorate, if not exercised regularly,” says CFII Conor Dancy with Aviation Adventures in Leesburg, Virginia. Dancy presents half-day “Rusty IFR Pilot” seminars at Aviation Adventures, and the classroom is generally packed.
Why does currency—let alone proficiency in instrument flying—seem to be an elusive goal for so many of us? Dancy says it’s a twofold problem. First, if you fly infrequently, most of your flying will be VFR just to maintain or regain general proficiency in the airplane. Instrument proficiency gets put on the back burner.
“The second reason, I believe, are the currency requirements themselves,” Dancy says. “In order for an instrument pilot to
log an approach, the approach must either be conducted in
IMC, or the pilot must be wearing a view-limiting device with a safety pilot on board. Even if a pilot flies IFR ‘in the system’ every time, odds are that most approaches he flies will be conducted in VMC and therefore cannot be logged toward instrument currency.” The logistics of lining up a safety pilot often are prohibitive, he says, because both pilots must find time to fly together. “Factor in scheduling a rental airplane, and it’s almost impossible to find a time when all parties are available at the same time.”
And, Dancy notes, a pilot can fly one approach per month plus holds, intercepts, and tracks to meet the legal definition of currency, but he or she might not be truly proficient under IFR.
Getting and keeping current.The easiest way to keep current is to file and fly on an instrument flight plan as much as possible. For some of us, that’s a lot to ask. If you’re a little anxious about flying single-pilot in the system, Dancy has several suggestions:
- Get comfortable communicating with ATC. “If you haven’t flown ‘in the system’ in a while, consider flying to a nearby towered airport for some VFR pattern work. That should help ease you back into the flow of ATC communications,” Dancy says. “You might also consider listening to a busy terminal radar approach control on LiveATC.net on your computer or smartphone in your free time. It’ll help train your ear for what to listen for and expect from ATC,” he says.
- New instrument pilots, or those fresh out of an IPC, would gain a lot from taking a couple of IFR flights in the system on beautiful VFR days. “You will gain experience flying solo in the system without having to worry about the weather.”
- Ease yourself into flying in instrument meteorological conditions. “Perhaps start by filing on a day with scattered cumulus clouds. Next, try flying IFR on a day with an overcast low enough that you’ll get some actual instrument time, but high enough that you’ll break out well above minimums on the approach,” Dancy says.
- Speaking of minimums, set your personal minimums well above the published minimums. “As you fly IFR in IMC more often, you will become more comfortable doing so, and will gradually be able to lower your personal minimums.”
The key to becoming more comfortable with flying in the system is to ease yourself into it, Dancy says. Get comfortable with communications before flying in IMC. “When you do fly in IMC, start with easy, low-risk conditions and gradually work yourself up to ‘harder’ IMC as you become more proficient.”
Related Articles
