Instrument Proficiency

According to FAR 61.57 (c), instrument currency means the need to execute six approaches, intercept and track courses, and perform a hold within the last six calendar months. If that requirement is not met, you have another six months to fly with a safety pilot and complete the requirements. There is no requirement that those six approaches be done while talking to ATC or using any specific type of approach.

After nearly 12 months of not flying instruments, you could do the same approach to your home airport six times in a row, fly a hold with a direct entry, never talk to ATC, never execute a missed approach and still be legal to fly into LAX in the worst weather and execute an approach to minimums on a Friday afternoon. While lawful, I doubt many pilots would think it wise. Would you want to be in the backseat of an aircraft that was piloted by such a pilot on a dark and stormy night?

For most pilots the FAA minimums are not sufficient to perform at a level to feel comfortable in the system. So what does it take to be truly proficient? While the definition of "proficient" may vary with the individual it is the ability to function in the instrument environment, in IMC conditions, where the safe outcome of the flight is never in doubt.

You must be able to fly to the Practical Test Standards (PTS) for the instrument rating (FAA-S-8081-4E). These require a pilot to perform three instrument approaches to minimums, one of which must be without vectors (using a PT or TAA procedure), and one of which must be with loss of primary flight instruments (no gyro).

There are numerous additional tasks such as unusual attitudes and circling-to-land. If you complete these tasks within the tolerances prescribed, the FAA considers this to be a reasonable level of proficiency. Most pilots would agree. If you go beyond the first and second six month periods of 61.57 (c), you are required to take an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) with a CFII. The instrument rating PTS lists the tasks an instructor must see the pilot perform for an IPC and is a subset of the practical test. To be truly proficient in the IFR world a reasonable target would be to pass an instrument rating check ride.

What will it take to bring your skill set to that level? Just like a concert pianist—practice, practice, practice. For an airline pilot, who flies on a regular basis in the IFR environment, maintaining proficiency should not be a problem. While they probably don't get into IMC every day, they do experience it with some regularity and furthermore even in good weather, they are always "in the system" talking to controllers, reviewing approach plates, running checklists and more. On top of all that they have to take check rides every six months in the simulator. These pilots should be truly proficient—but we have seen some exceptions to that recently.

If you are not flying for a living practice is still the correct answer. Try to make every flight in the system. When you are given the option to take a visual approach, pass it up and fly the full procedure. Don't accept vectors to final every time—although at busy airports that can be problematic. Search out and fly DME arcs. If you still have an ADF in your panel, challenge yourself and fly an NDB approach (if you can still find one).

If your airplane has an autopilot, learn to use it to its fullest capability. Many pilots only know how to turn on the autopilot and go into heading mode. Learn how to capture an altitude, couple approaches, including the glide slope—if you are lucky enough to have a sophisticated unit.

While every instrument pilot should be able to hand fly without an autopilot while in the clouds and should be able to hand fly an approach to minimums, a good autopilot can go a long way to making a difficult situation better, but only if you know how to use the unit and are comfortable and safe doing so.

What if you just don't get the chance to fly as much as you would really like? There are still lots of things that can be done at home. Open a book of approach plates and chair-fly two or three approaches each week. Think about what you would do at every point in the approach (event triggers): where would you self-brief, change configuration, and how to execute the procedure turn from various locations.

After the chair-flying exercise, download the simulator for the GPS units you fly and learn all the functions—especially those of which you are unsure. Spend a few hundred bucks on a desktop simulator with a good yoke and throttle quadrant. It will cost less than a couple of hours of rental time and then set up a schedule of self-training.

While some home simulators may not be legal to log the operations for recurrent training, the time is still valuable in terms of getting comfortable with the mechanics of instrument flying—particularly approaches. For most simulators, FAR 61.51 (g) (4) requires a CFII to be present if you want to count the time. About the only thing missing from home simulators is the interaction with ATC—and that's where a good CFII sitting behind you can be invaluable by mimicking that aspect.

The next step is to get out to the airport and fly in the system. Nothing beats the real world for increasing proficiency. Fly with a friend and take turns challenging each other to try difficult approaches with and without failures. If you don't have someone you know who can act as your safety pilot, most FBO's would be happy to suggest someone in your same situation that can lend a hand and learn something themselves. But use caution if you are in IMC unless you know the ability of the safety pilot.

Once you feel the rust coming off and are more comfortable with the plane, it's time to seek professional help—from an instructor that is. Ask the instructor to hit you with both barrels. After all wouldn't you rather encounter difficult situations under controlled circumstances than when your life and your family are at risk?

Have the instructor challenge you with the most difficult approaches she knows. Ask the instructor to fail other items in addition to gyro based instruments. Do you know what to do when you have an electrical failure? How about a communications failure?

Don't forget to do holding patterns, particularly with entries other than direct. While holds may not occur frequently in the real world, they still get issued on occasion. Once again, having the opportunity to practice with an instructor in a controlled environment is preferable to getting holding instructions on a dark and stormy night with no else in the plane except your kids.

Finally don't ever be satisfied with your level of proficiency. Some pilots consider themselves a minimal IFR pilot. They are willing to fly an approach when the ceilings are high or a departure where the clouds are only a few hundred feet thick. But the problem with this mind-set is that the weather can change quickly and you may be forced to fly for longer than you anticipated and complete an approach to minimums when you didn't expect to do so.

Your goal should always be to fly at least as well as required by the PTS. Doing so will go a long way to keeping you more than just legally current but keeping you at the level of being truly proficient and safe.

Ken Maples is a CFII and chief instructor for Tradewinds at KRHV, a Part 141 flight school that specializes in glass, and is a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE).

This article originally appeared in the February 2014 issue of IFR Refresher magazine.

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