IFR currency
61.57(c): six approaches, holding, intercepting and tracking -- and the grace period.
11 min read · The IFR system and its rules
After this lesson you can
- List the three tasks 61.57(c) requires within a rolling six-calendar-month window.
- Explain what happens if that window is missed, and for how long self-recovery stays possible.
- Describe what an instrument proficiency check involves and when it becomes mandatory.
The instrument rating itself never expires -- it stays on the certificate for as long as the pilot holds a certificate at all. What can lapse is the privilege to actually use it, and that privilege runs on a much shorter clock than most pilots expect: six calendar months, quietly, in the background of every other flight.
This lesson covers exactly what has to happen in those six months, what happens when it does not, and the one thing that resets the clock once it has run out twice.
1.What must happen in six months
To act as pilot in command under IFR, or in weather below VFR minimums, a pilot must have accomplished, within the preceding six calendar months, a specific set of tasks: six instrument approaches, holding procedures, and intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigation systems. These tasks may be accomplished under actual or simulated instrument conditions.
- Six approaches — No particular approach type is mandated -- six ILS approaches satisfy the requirement just as well as six RNAV approaches, or any mix of types.
- Holding procedures — Entry into a holding pattern and the tasks that go with it, including timing and wind correction.
- Intercepting and tracking — Intercepting and tracking a course using a navigation system -- a VOR radial and a GPS course both satisfy this.
To act as PIC under IFR, you must be current. The 6-6 rule: within the preceding 6 calendar months, you must have logged 6 instrument approaches, holding procedures, and intercepting/tracking via navaids. If 6 months pass without currency, you get another 6 months to regain it (12 months total) using a safety pilot, ATD, or simulator. After 12 months, an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) with a CFII is required.
14 CFR 61.57(c)
These are not three separate six-month clocks running in parallel; the regulation is one requirement covering all of it within the same rolling six calendar months. A single well-built training flight can knock out several of these tasks at once.
2.Actual, simulated, or a device
The tasks can be logged under actual instrument conditions, or simulated using a view-limiting device such as a hood with an appropriately qualified safety pilot alongside, or in an approved flight training device or simulator. Instrument flight time itself is logged for whatever period the pilot is controlling the aircraft solely by reference to instruments -- whether that reference comes from a hood, an approved training device, or genuine IMC.
- View-limiting device — A hood or similar device that blocks outside visual reference while a qualified safety pilot handles the lookout duty the device takes away.
- Training devices — Approved simulators, full flight simulators, or basic/advanced aviation training devices (BATD/AATD) can satisfy some or all of these tasks under the conditions specific to that device category.
3.What counts as an approach
The regulation itself does not spell out a specific altitude an approach must reach to count. In practice, instrument training treats an approach as counting only once it is flown, by reference to instruments, down to the decision altitude or minimum descent altitude published for it -- because the whole point of the six-month requirement is keeping a pilot sharp at exactly the part of the flight where currency matters most: close to the ground, in weather.
That means picking up the runway ten miles out and finishing the approach visually from there is not the kind of practice the requirement is built around, even if it technically happened during an approach.
Quick check
A pilot flies six approaches for currency purposes, but breaks off each one visually at 5 miles from the runway, well above the minimum altitude, on a clear day. What is the practical concern?
4.Six months, then another six
Missing the six-month window does not immediately require an instructor. The regulation gives a second six-month period to independently re-accomplish the same tasks -- under a view-limiting device with a safety pilot, or in an approved training device -- without being able to act as pilot in command under IFR in the meantime. Only if that second window also passes without meeting the requirements does self-recovery close: at that point, an instrument proficiency check, an inflight evaluation by a qualified instrument flight instructor, becomes the only way back.
| Time since the tasks were last done | Status | What restores privileges |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 6 calendar months | Current | Nothing -- IFR privileges apply normally |
| 6 to 12 calendar months | Not current, self-recovery open | Re-fly the tasks under a view-limiting device with a safety pilot, or on an approved training device |
| Beyond 12 calendar months | Not current, self-recovery closed | An instrument proficiency check with a qualified instrument flight instructor |
Caution
The count runs in CALENDAR months, which is more forgiving than it sounds: tasks accomplished on, say, March 3rd stay valid all the way through the end of September. That calendar-month rounding always works in the pilot's favor, never against.
Quick check
A pilot has not flown an approach, held, or tracked a course in eight calendar months. What is true?
5.The instrument proficiency check
An instrument proficiency check is not a written exam; it repeats the tasks of the instrument rating practical test, evaluated by a qualified instrument flight instructor against the current Airman Certification Standards. It is, in effect, a compressed version of the original checkride, focused specifically on the skills currency is meant to protect.
A pilot who successfully completes an instrument rating practical test, or a proficiency check conducted by an airline under its own program, satisfies this requirement as a side effect -- the currency clock restarts from that date without a separate, dedicated IPC being necessary.
- 1Review local procedures and the charts for the airports likely to be used during the check.
- 2Expect both a precision and a non-precision approach, on approaches that are actually available to fly.
- 3Expect partial-panel work and unusual attitude recovery -- these come up routinely, not as a surprise addition.
- 4Have the instructor log the successful completion and the date; that entry is what restarts the six-month clock.
What to remember
- The instrument rating never expires; the privilege to use it under IFR depends on 61.57(c) currency, checked in rolling six-calendar-month windows.
- The three required tasks are six instrument approaches, holding procedures, and intercepting/tracking a course -- one combined requirement, not three separate clocks.
- A second six-month window allows independent recovery without an instructor; past twelve months total, only an instrument proficiency check restores privileges.
- An IPC repeats the instrument rating practical test tasks with a qualified CFII and resets the currency clock on completion.
- The count runs in calendar months, which rounds in the pilot's favor every time.
Key terms
Try to recall each definition before turning the card.
FAA sources for this lesson
- 14 CFR 61.57(c) -- Instrument experience
- Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Introduction -- Maintaining the Instrument Rating
End-of-lesson quiz
1.How many instrument approaches does 61.57(c) require, and over what period?
2.A pilot has done nothing toward currency for eight calendar months. What can be done?
3.What restarts the six-month currency clock after more than twelve months of inactivity?
4.What does simulated instrument flight under a view-limiting device require?
5.The 61.57(c) currency count runs in what unit?