Ask an IFR Expert: What actually counts towards IFR currency?

IFR currency seems simple on paper—six approaches every six months.

IFR currency seems simple on paper—six approaches every six months—but in real flying, what seems black and white can turn gray in a hurry. Do approaches in mostly visual conditions count? What about simulators, vectors to final, or breaking out early?

IFR currency isn’t hard to maintain, but it is easy to misunderstand. The biggest mistakes usually come from assuming that filing IFR or flying an approach automatically makes it loggable. In reality, how you fly the approach matters more than when.

The baseline currency requirement (§ 61.57 Recent flight experience: Pilot in command)

To act as PIC under IFR, an instrument-rated pilot must have logged, within the previous 6 calendar months:

• Six instrument approaches
• Holding procedures and tasks
• Intercepting and tracking courses

That’s the easy part. The nuance is in what actually qualifies.

An instrument approach may be logged toward currency if it’s flown under any of these conditions:

1. Actual IMC in an aircraft
2. Simulated IMC in an aircraft (using a view-limiting device and a safety pilot)
3. FAA-approved simulators or training devices (FFS, FTD, or ATD with a valid LOA)
4. A combination of the above

The common thread? You must be flying solely by reference to instruments. For an approach to count, it must meet all of these criteria (based on FAA guidance and legal interpretations):

• Flown solely by reference to instruments
  No outside visual cues—actual or simulated IMC must be real.
• Properly established on the approach
  Fly the required segments (initial, intermediate, and final), unless ATC vectors allow you to join later.
• Flown to MDA or DA
  You don’t need to land. If you break out before or at DA/MDA after flying part of the final segment (beyond the FAF) in IMC, it still counts.
• Instrument time is logged
  You can’t log an approach without logging actual or simulated instrument time alongside it.

What about missed approaches and holds?

• The missed approach is not required for logging the approach (but skipping them regularly is not a good idea)
• Holds may be flown in the aircraft, simulator or flight training device—published, assigned or simulated are all acceptable

If you ever find yourself debating whether an approach counted, that’s usually your answer. Log approaches honestly, understand the conditions that matter, and treat currency as a minimum standard—not a proficiency goal. You can be perfectly legal and still unprepared or unsafe if you haven’t flown IMC recently, haven’t hand-flown in instrument conditions or haven’t executed a missed approach in months.

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Eric Radtke

It was his first airplane trip at age seven that made Eric decide to become a pilot. "While boarding the airplane, a flight attendant noticed my interest in the flight deck and urged me to go talk to the pilot. I give a lot of credit to that pilot for my career choice." Eric earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and went on to an airline career. He learned to fly at Sporty’s as part of the University of Cincinnati’s Professional Pilot Program, an initiative he later directed.Eric now manages Sporty’s media network including IFRFocus.com. In addition, Eric serves as a Captain in a Cincinnati-based corporate flight department.

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