IFR Currency Requirements Pilots Get Wrong

What IFR Currency Actually Requires

IFR currency has gotten complicated with all the misinformation flying around — and I mean that literally. I’ve watched sharp, experienced pilots ground themselves over rules they half-remembered, and I’ve watched others climb into actual IMC when they had absolutely no business being there. FAR 61.57(c) is the regulation that governs all of this. Within the preceding six calendar months: six instrument approaches, holding procedures, intercepting and tracking. At least one of those approaches must happen with a safety pilot or authorized instructor present.

Simple enough. Except it never is.

The regulation fits together like a puzzle where someone swapped pieces from three different boxes. You’ll nail your six approaches. You’ll fly a textbook hold. You’ll demonstrate intercepting and tracking without breaking a sweat. And then you’ll get lazy on the counting, misread what actually qualifies, or walk away from a safety pilot session convinced you’re current — when you’re not even close.

As someone who spent three years as a volunteer safety pilot watching pilots try to restore currency, I learned everything there is to know about where this process breaks down. Today, I will share it all with you. The same mistakes showed up constantly. A pilot would log twelve approaches and think they were bulletproof. Half those approaches didn’t meet the regulatory standard. Another would finish a full safety pilot session, shake hands, and fly IFR the following week — missing one critical element that invalidated the whole thing.

So, without further ado, let’s dive in.

The Approach Count Mistakes Pilots Make

Probably should have opened with this section, honestly. The approach count is where most pilots first derail — usually before they even realize they’ve gone off the rails.

Here’s the problem: not every approach attempt counts toward your six. Plenty of pilots assume it does. They’ll fly a practice VOR approach on a clear CAVU afternoon, winds calm, visibility fifteen miles, and log it with complete confidence. That approach doesn’t count. The regulation requires approaches in “actual or simulated instrument conditions.” A clear-sky practice run — no matter how precise, no matter how stabilized — doesn’t satisfy 61.57(c). Period.

Simulated conditions work fine. Hood on, safety pilot in the right seat, and you’re operating under simulated IMC. That counts. Actual clouds work too, obviously. But “I flew it really well in perfect weather” doesn’t move the needle one bit.

Then there’s the partial approach question — and this one trips people up constantly. Say you enter the hold, execute it cleanly, begin your descent on final. At 300 feet above minimums, the controller calls traffic and you go missed. You didn’t land. You barely finished. Does it count?

Yes. It counts.

A missed approach is still a completed approach for currency purposes. Track the final approach course to the missed approach point — or circle for landing — and the FAA considers it done. They don’t require a touchdown. This misconception has grounded plenty of perfectly current pilots who threw away legitimate approaches over an imaginary requirement.

Approach type flexibility catches people too. ILS, VOR, NDB, GPS, LPV, LNAV — any published procedure counts toward your six. Three LPV approaches, two VOR, one ILS? Totally legal. Most pilots know this technically but then mentally discount anything that isn’t an ILS when they’re actually doing the tally. That’s how you end up thinking you have three qualifying approaches when you actually have six.

One more trap: simulator approaches. They count — but only with a CFII or authorized instructor present and actively evaluating your performance. A solo session on your home rig, even a $3,800 setup running X-Plane 12 with a GTN 750 panel and rudder pedals, doesn’t count. Not even a little. The regulatory requirement needs a human evaluator in the room watching what you do.

Safety Pilot Flights and What They Actually Fix

Frustrated by how often the safety pilot rules got mangled, I started logging every detail of restoration flights I participated in. Three flights total. Two restored currency correctly. One didn’t — and the pilot had absolutely no idea.

But what is a safety pilot flight, exactly? In essence, it’s a legal arrangement where a qualified pilot occupies the right seat while you fly under the hood, allowing both of you to log specific time. But it’s much more than that — and the distinction matters enormously when currency restoration is the goal.

A safety pilot flight restores IFR currency only when specific conditions line up. First, you — the pilot under the hood — must be legally able to log pilot-in-command time. That means a valid instrument rating and a safety pilot who meets the requirements under 61.57(c)(4): current category and class rating for the aircraft, current in that aircraft. A private pilot works. An ATP works. An expired commercial certificate does not. I’m apparently picky about this detail, and checking safety pilot currency before the flight works for me while assuming “they’ll be fine” never does.

Don’t make my mistake.

Second, the entire currency requirement must be satisfied within one single session. Six approaches in actual or simulated IMC, holding, intercepting, tracking — all of it, in one flight. You can’t bank three approaches from Tuesday’s flight and three from Thursday’s and combine them into a restoration. That’s not how this works.

Third — and this is the one that quietly destroys restoration flights — the safety pilot must be actively acting as pilot-in-command while you’re under the hood working through those required elements. Hands available. Monitoring instruments. Ready to take over immediately. Not scrolling a phone in the right seat while you handle everything.

Logging PIC time is a separate issue. You can log PIC under the hood with a passive safety pilot — that’s legitimate. But logging that PIC time doesn’t restore your IFR currency unless the safety pilot was also current and acting PIC throughout those six approaches, holds, and tracking tasks. Many pilots conflate these two things. They spend an afternoon flying solid approaches in IMC, log the PIC time, and later discover the safety pilot’s medical had lapsed or the VMC conditions were never formally declared as simulated. That’s a frustrating afternoon wasted.

When You Are No Longer IFR Current and What Happens Next

IFR currency expires on a clean calendar timeline. Last qualifying approach on November 15th? You’re current through May 15th of the following year. The calendar doesn’t negotiate.

After that date, currency is gone. Not your rating. Not your certificate. Just currency — the legal authorization to act as pilot-in-command under IFR. That’s what makes the distinction endearing to us pilots: you’re still instrument rated. You just can’t use it in actual IMC until you’re current again.

Here’s what surprises a lot of people: there’s a second six-calendar-month window after you lose currency. Inside that window, you can restore currency using a safety pilot and simulated conditions. You cannot file IFR or fly actual instrument conditions during this period — not legally. But you can get under the hood with a current safety pilot, fly your six approaches and holds, and climb back to legal currency. After that second window closes — twelve calendar months total from your last qualifying approach — the safety pilot route is off the table. An instrument proficiency check with a CFII becomes the only path back.

Flying IFR while not current is a certificate action risk. The FAA isn’t running daily audits of approach logs. But the moment an accident or incident occurs during an IFR flight and investigators pull your logbook, the violation becomes leverage. Expect enforcement. Expect your medical scrutinized. The math on “probably won’t get caught” stops working the instant something goes wrong at 4,000 feet in a cloud.

How to Get Back to IFR Currency the Right Way

First, you should open your logbook and actually count — at least if you want an accurate picture of where you stand. Pull every approach logged in the past six calendar months. Apply the standards covered above: actual or simulated conditions only, approaches tracked to the MAP, any published approach type, at least one with an evaluator or safety pilot present. Don’t round up. Don’t give yourself credit for the CAVU practice approach in August.

Six qualifying approaches? You’re current. Done — go fly.

Short on approaches but still within six calendar months of your last currency? A single safety pilot session might be the best option, as currency restoration requires all six approaches, holding, and tracking to happen in one session. That is because the FAA doesn’t allow you to accumulate restoration requirements across multiple flights — the whole package has to happen at once. While you won’t need a full instrument checkride, you will need a handful of solid hours blocked out and a safety pilot who is genuinely current.

Beyond six calendar months lapsed? You need a CFII-led IPC. Usually runs sixty to ninety minutes depending on the instructor and your proficiency level. Pass it, and you’re current. It can happen in the aircraft or in an approved simulator — a Redbird FMX or a full-motion sim both satisfy the requirement if the CFII signs you off.

Track this proactively. Set a calendar reminder sixty days before your currency expires. Don’t wait until you’ve got an IFR trip planned next Thursday and suddenly realize your last qualifying approach was seven months ago at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Tuesday you barely remember. Proactive costs one calendar alert. Reactive costs a scrambled IPC and a missed trip.