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6 Answers

Instrument Currency

Asked by: 1392 views FAA Regulations, Instrument Rating

Please excuse the stupid question(s):

I was re-reading 61.57 prior to a ground lecture and noticed a couple of omissions , which I am sure are covered elsewhere, either a Legal interpretation (?), or other document. Does anyone have the appropriate reference?

  • The IPC restores currency but where does it state how long for? I would presume 6 months, but surely there is a more concrete statement.
  • If 5 approaches are completed in the “previous 6 calendar months” (July to December). Does a 6th on January 1st restore currency? Common sense would say yes, but a strict reading of 61.57 suggests maybe not. Is this superseded by another FAA reference or a general legal definition?

Many thanks.

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6 Answers



  1. awair on Jan 21, 2023

    Wynne (2008) answers the first part of my question: is that still current or has it been modified, updated or rescinded?

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  2. Bryan on Jan 22, 2023

    I’m not sure why you would need a more concrete statement about what being instrument current means. 61.57(c) says that currency is doing six approaches, a hold, and tracking procedures “within the 6 calendar months preceding the month of the flight.” So instrument currency lasts 6 months. This never changes. The only thing that can change is the manner in which you reset the clock.

    There are three ways (for GA pilots where the exceptions in 67.57(e) generally don’t apply):
    1 – Pass an instrument checkride (most people only do this once, right?) Note: a CFII ride does not reset your instrument currency.
    2 – Complete the six approaches, hold, and tracking procedures “within the 6 calendar months preceding the month of the flight.”
    3 – Complete an IPC

    As for your question about the months–we don’t have enough information because we don’t know how those 5 approaches were distributed from July to December. Remember, the regulation is looking at a six-month window. So you have to have six approaches July through December OR six approaches August through January. Any other interpretation requires one to ignore the words “within the 6 CALENDAR months.”

    If all six approaches happened “within the 6 calendar months preceding the month of the flight” you’re good to go. That means if 3 of your 5 approaches were in July and your “6th” approach happens in January, then there is no period of 6 calendar months in which you did six approaches, right?

    So your January 1st approach WOULD save you from having to do an IPC under 61.57(d)(1) but it would only make you current under 61.57(c) if none of the other 5 approaches was in July–because then you would have 6 approaches (assuming you did a hold somewhere along the way) August through January.

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  3. awair on Jan 22, 2023

    Bryan, thank you for your detailed response. It is much appreciated.

    In response to your question about a “concrete statement”, this was in relation to the IPC. The FAA obviously thought clarification was needed (not necessarily for everyone), by issuing the Wynne letter.

    Additionally, there is always the challenging student in class who comes up with ‘what if’…
    And in this I would (politely) disagree with your assertion that the “only thing that can change is the manner in which you reset the clock”.

    I specifically used the example July-December, inferring that at least one approach was in July. I absolutely agree that 5 does not equal 6 (approaches), but disagree that August-January (if we in January) is not the preceding 6 months.

    So I guess my question is more:
    Is the current month ever (legally) included in “6 preceding months” to produce the result 6 equals ‘6 and a bit’ (months)?

    Otherwise we end up with a slightly perverse situation, of where one completes 2 approaches on 01-Jan (now excluding the 1 from July), we now have 6 August-January, but not legal IFR until 01-Feb.

    Hope this makes sense?
    [I know there are some UK legal rules that ignore parts of days or other calendar periods, just not sure what applies here.]

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  4. Mark Kolber on Jan 23, 2023

    Yes, the “preceding 6 months” includes the current month. Just like “within the past 7 days” includes today in everyday English, if I am out of currency (but within the period when I can regain without an IPC), I can do six countable approaches and a hold this morning and file IFR this afternoon.

    Don’t try too hard to find tiny things in regulatory language and expand them into “a slightly perverse situation.” While there have certainly been results from time to time that makes it seem so, regulatory interpretation doesn’t generally work that way. If you read between the lines, that’s what Wynne is saying.

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  5. awair on Jan 23, 2023

    Many thanks Mark, I thought you might have the answer on this.

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  6. awair on Jan 23, 2023

    I forgot to mention that back in EASA-land (and the UK), we have the ‘privilege’ of requiring an instrument check-ride every year to maintain privileges.

    The expiry date is endorsed on our license.

    I much prefer the FAA approach. Thank you for your help.

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