Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Does flying IFR in VFR conditions doing an instrument approach count as the currency requirements?

Asked by: 5186 views Instrument Rating

Does flying IFR and performing an instrument approach in VFR conditions count towards the IFR currency requirements?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Eric Gideon on Apr 21, 2012

    Yes, per 61.57(c), but only if you are wearing a view-limiting device and accompanied by a safety pilot. Simply flying the approach in VFR while on an IFR flight plan will not be enough for currency. 

    See: http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgFar.nsf/FARSBySectLookup/61.57

    1. Use of an airplane, powered-lift, helicopter, or airship for maintaining instrument experience. Within the 6 calendar months preceding the month of the flight, that person performed and logged at least the following tasks and iterations in an airplane, powered-lift, helicopter, or airship, as appropriate, for the instrument rating privileges to be maintained in actual weather conditions, or under simulated conditions using a view-limiting device that involves having performed the following–
      1. Six instrument approaches.
      2. Holding procedures and tasks. 
      3. Intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigational electronic systems.

    +6 Votes Thumb up 6 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Bob Watson on Apr 26, 2012

    Where I live (Pacific NW), that question is a little more nuanced. We get days where there are 500′-thick cloud layers floating at 1500 AGL. VFR above and below, but to get from above to below you’re in IMC for about a minute.
    So, does that approach count? Does it count if you enter in IMC but come out into VMC well above the DH?
    Around here, the onofficial consensus is that both would count towards currency, but they probably don’t offer much help towards improving proficiency.
    I suppose that if you followed the letter of the law, you’d have to fly the approach from IAF to MDA/DH in IMC, but which MDA? (e.g. ILS? LOC? or the MDA that is several thousand feet AGL?)  So, even the letter of the law has some room in it.

    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.