Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Helicopter IFR experience

Asked by: 3510 views Helicopter

I am looking for additional information regarding the 5 hours of instrument experience listed in FAR section 61.129(c)(3)(i) for the commercial helicopter rating.  The first sentence states, "Five hours on the control and maneuvering of a helicopter...." while the last sentence states, "This aeronautical experience may be performed in an aircraft...."

I have been told that this can be done in a fixed wing even though I am going for my helicopter certification.  Is this true and if so, would I need to do this with a fixed wing CFI?

I would prefer to do this in a helicopter but IFR equipped helicopters are hard to come by.  All of the simulators near me are fixed wing as well.

Thanks for the input.

1 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on May 12, 2014

    It appears that one can do the training in an airplane. Also, since it states “control & maneuvering … by reference to instruments” the training could be done by a Flight Instructor who holds no Instrument rating on his Flight Instructor certificate.

    None of this makes any sense. The regs require 5 hours of this training to be done in a single or multiengine airplane, as appropriate. One could not do the training in a helicopter. The aircraft are different. Helicopter training should be done in a helicopter.

    Second, the training should be done by an Instrument instructor. The law of Primacy would suggest that if an instructor who is not trained as an instrument instructor teaches the pilot wrong techniques, it will require extra training by an Instrument Instructor to undue the damage.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.